


Romeo and Juliet - Starring Will Solace and Nico di Angelo

by jsuislfrost



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: BoyxBoy, Fluff, Language, M/M, Mortal AU, Oblivious boys being oblivious, Shakespeare, cuteness, romeo and juliet - Freeform, solangelo, willco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2905277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsuislfrost/pseuds/jsuislfrost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mortal AU. When Percy pairs Nico and Will together for their English project, Nico is ready to kill a man. Playing the Juliet to his long-time-festering-crush's Romeo? Someone have mercy on him.</p><p>(was moonshroom420)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nico Decides Shakespear Hates Him

**Chapter 1:**

**Nico Decides Shakespeare Hates Him**

A Study in Shakespeare – that was the name of Nico’s new English unit. You’d think they’d have more creative things to offer for Eleventh Grade, even in his school, but no, musty old Victorian play writers it was. But, Nico decided that wasn’t even the worst part. He would have been alright studying _Hamlet_ , even that _Much Ado About Nothing_ one, but since he decided Shakespeare’s ghost hated him to the ends of the earth, they weren’t doing either of them.

No, no, they were doing something much crueller.

Romeo and Juliet.

Would you believe him if he said that wasn’t the worst part? Because it wasn’t. Nope. Nowhere near.

The worst part; the bane of his existence. The reason Nico wanted to sink into the ground and not come out –

Was a simple card in his hand with spidery handwriting on it that read _Will Solace._ His partner for their assessment piece was Will Solace. He had to perform a scene from _Romeo and Juliet_ with Will – freakin’ – Solace and no this mental freak out had nothing to do with the fact he was crushing so hard on the guy it was like titanium in his stomach nuh uh of course not.

In the long run, Nico blamed Percy Jackson.

* * *

Chiron’s Academy for Gifted Boys not only had a super-lame name, but a prime spot in the good old hub known as Long Island Sound. It was a boarding school and housed up to one hundred boys – pitiful compared to other schools, but they were in the middle of the forest. And it was for _gifted_ boys. Therefore, there were around ten or so kids per year level with different timetables and everyone knew everyone.

It wasn’t your typical school, either. It was, as mentioned, in the middle of the woods. But it was also the activities there that made it unusual. You could study Archery as an elective, for example. Ancient Greek and Latin were mandatory subjects. Boys were divided into cabins based on personality tests when they arrived and they ate at their cabin’s tables each meal time. Sword-fighting, Chariot Racing, Swimming, Canoeing, obstacle courses – they were all part of the curriculum along with the general Math and English, Geography and Science.

Then there was the Greek Mythology. The entire place seemed to be oriented around Mythology. The whole school was referred to as Camp Half-Blood. Each cabin was named after a god or goddess. Different cabins ran different activities. It made each student feel like they weren’t even at school and lived the life of an adventurer.

Nico di Angelo was one who didn’t feel like this. Put in the Hades cabin, he was alone at his table, with no ‘siblings’ around. No one else was in Hades with him. He was, by all standards, a loner.

Until Percy Jackson came along. Then, Nico got friends. Percy was the best thing that had happened to him. They were practically brothers.

Which was why Nico blamed Percy right now for getting him paired with Will Solace, who that little shit of a Poseidon kid _knew_ Nico had a ginormous crush on.

* * *

“Percy, come up and pick the next pair for the English Project.”

Nico watched Percy get out of his seat glumly and trudge up to the desk. The teacher, Ms Dare, smiled at him as he rifled through the hat full of names she had on the desk. Nico could see Percy peeking through his lashes at the names on the bits of paper. His smirked slightly and pulled one out.

“Nico di Angelo,” he read, sending Nico a smug grin that just _oozed_ ‘Time to hook you up!’

“Nico, come on up,” Ms Dare encouraged. Nico slumped up to the desk, glaring at his classmates, all of whom either grinned back and shot him the bird or ignored him. Leo Valdez was one who fell into the first category. Ethan Nakamura fell into the second.

“And, the lucky partner for this fine young bit of Italian is…” Percy rifled once again, staring at the names before picking one specific one out and reading it loudly.

“Will Solace!”

Percy then thrust the card at Nico, made a run for his seat, and dived into his chair. Nico was left at the front of the class, holding a card _which Will Solace had touched, by the way,_ and watching as his project partner for one of the most romantic and tragic plays in history walked up to the front of the class and grinned down at him.

“Awesome,” Will said enthusiastically. “Can’t wait to get started, Nico.”

 _Jackson you are one dead man,_ Nico thought as he took his new seat beside Will Solace, moving his pencil case, notebook full of doodles, and copy of _Romeo and Juliet,_ onto his new desk. Which, if you didn’t catch, was right next to Will.

Nico spent the rest of the class staring holes in the back of Percy’s head while the Poseidon kid leaned over his copy of the play with his partner, Jason Grace, while simultaneously trying not to think about how close Will’s hand was and if Nico could just reach out and touch it-

A _ding dong_ clanged through the classroom, signalling the end of English. Nico gathered up his stuff, careful not to brush his hand against Will’s, before he started to move off. Percy was already out the door with Jason, and Nico was ready to catch up and give them a piece of his mind when something warm came down on his shoulder. Nico looked around, and stumbled when he realised what- no, who, it was.

“Hey, Nico,” Will greeted, an easy grin on his perfect face. “What do you have now?”

 _An overwhelming desire to shove you against a wall,_ Nico responded mentally. What he said was, “It’s a new subject called How Many Times Can I Hit Percy Before He Runs Away.”

Will laughed. Nico decided right there that was what the angels based their heavenly choir off, or whatever.

“What did he do this time?”

They started subconsciously walking away from the lone classroom that stood by itself in its little niche at the edge of the school. Grass bent under Nico’s combat boots as he and Will walked side by side towards the Big House, which generally all academic classes were in, besides English.

Nico wasn’t sure how to respond, so he told a half-truth.

“He and Jason pulled some shit,” he replied vaguely. Will snorted.

“Those two and Leo are just the worst,” he agreed, and Nico felt a small smile curve his lips. Maybe he wouldn’t melt into a puddle of goo right away. Talking to Will was… nice.

“Oh my gods, di Angelo!”

Nico froze, staring ahead. What had he done? Did he do something wrong? Had Will figured it out? Was cyclone Katrina _really_ his fault?

In retrospect, those last two were just stupid. Nico mentally hit himself, before turning to Will.

“What?” he asked, his voice a little quieter. Will’s mouth was wide open, almost like a snake’s.

“You just smiled,” he said faintly. “You… you just smiled. At me. You just smiled at me.”

Nico felt relief wash through him, but he just calmly raised an eyebrow.

“And that began the Apocalypse how?”

Will laughed again, and they resumed walking.

“It’s just you never smile. I see you in class and it just doesn’t happen.”

“I do smile,” Nico said defensively.

“Yeah?” Will demanded. “When.”

“Some people make me smile,” Nico replied, half lying, half not. Will made him smile.

“Percy?” Will guessed, and Nico could feel a subtle change in his tone. But it was a life-line, so he took it.

“Yeah,” he said. “Percy, Jason and Leo. And my sister.” _And you, but you can’t know that._

“You have a sister?” Will’s eyebrows crept up.

“Mmhm,” Nico hummed, his boots thumping against the wood as they ascended the Big House’s steps. “She’s over the road at Lupa’s College.”

Lupa’s College was Chiron’s Academy’s sister school, where, ironically, Nico’s sister attended. A couple of the boys at Camp Half-Blood had a sister over at Camp Jupiter, which was what they called themselves. It was another Mythology-obsessed school, but instead of Greek, it was Roman. They had socials and dances occasionally with the boy’s school. Will nodded.

“What’s her name?” he asked. Nico shifted his pencil case.

“Hazel,” he replied. Will looked through the trees in the direction of girl’s school. Nico felt a little trickle of unwarranted jealousy and tried not to let it show as he added, “and she’s dating Frank Zhang so don’t think about wooing her.”

Will’s head shot back to look at Nico, his cheeks red. He dropped his books and pencil case on the doorstep of the Big House and started fumbling to get them.

“No no no, that’s not what I meant!” he rambled, picking up _Romeo and Juliet_ by the corner of one of the pages. He restacked his things and started through the door, not looking at Nico. “I don’t like your sister that way, dude.” His cheeks seemed to go a little redder. “I like someone else.”

Nico tried not to let his heart sink too far at the thought of Will head-over-heels for some pretty girl next door.

“Okay,” he replied lamely, and Will sent him a small, cheerful smile.

“Hey, don’t be glum di Angelo. The person I like is as equally unattainable as your sister so you can still be my little Juliet.”

Will ruffled Nico’s hair and walked towards the room that hosted Advanced Math. Nico stood there for a second, stunned. Then, being the sarcastic little shit he is, he yelled after Will, “Whatever, Romeo!”

Nico tried to convince himself that the laugh he got was _not_ his favourite sound in the world.


	2. Will Reads Under a Table

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, just in case you were wondering, I’m neither Rick Riordan nor William Shakespeare resurrected from the dead so I don’t own Percy Jackson or Romeo and Juliet.

**Chapter 2:**

**Will Reads Under a Table**

Normally, finding Will Solace reading under his desk in Advanced Math wasn’t abnormal. He wanted to be a doctor, and seemed to think that studying medical volumes now would get him there faster.

It was, however, definitely not normal for Will Solace to be reading William Shakespeare with a bright blush on his face and his phone sticking out of his pocket with maybe one or two photos of Nico di Angelo on it.

“Uh, Will?” someone beside him asked. Will jumped in his chair and shoved his thumb between the pages of _Romeo and Juliet_ to mark his spot before turning to his neighbour, a fellow Apollo kid named Lee Fletcher. Lee was looking at him oddly.

“Dude, I understand the medical volumes and the notebook full of bad math puns and doodles, but you cross the line of ‘What The Hades’ when you read Shakespeare and your face is flushed as a toilet.”

“Wha?” Will replied intelligently. Lee rolled his eyes.

“You’re blushing so hard you’d think someone had tried to give you a swirly,” Lee said. Will covered his cheeks, losing his page in the process. They did feel hot.

“I’m… uh…reading”

“ _Romeo and Juliet,_ yeah, I got that. For English. But why are you reading it in class and red as Apollo’s sacred cows?”

Yes, their cabin had sacred cows that were bright crimson. It was sad, really.  

“I just- just want a head start on it,” Will stuttered. “I want to do well in this unit.”

Lee raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t care about English, Solace. What’s so grand about this term?”

Will took a deep breath. He wasn’t afraid of people knowing he liked guys – in fact, a bunch of people had already come out of their own proverbial closets and no one gave a plop. The bottom line is if your school is obsessed with a civilisation that worshiped gods who went for any pretty mortal regardless of gender, you got over it pretty darn quick if you weren’t already.

Will just wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Lee _who_ he had the hots for.

“I dunno,” he said stupidly. “I just… feel like it?” He unconvincingly held up the book. “It’s a good play.”

“Uh huh,” Lee hummed, completely unimpressed. “I don’t have to be an Athena kid to see you’re doing this for a reason, and I don’t have to be from Aphrodite to see that the reason probably breaths air, and is in your class.”

“What?” Will asked again. Lee sighed.

“You like a dude in your class and you want to impress him. End of story.” He shifted a little closer. Neither of them had been paying attention for the last fifteen minutes. “So, who is it?”

Will waved his hands in front of his face, blushing.

“N-No, you’ve got it wrong man. I don’t like anyone in the class like that.”

That wasn’t even a lie. Nico di Angelo wasn’t in this class. Lee didn’t seem to buy it one bit, but he turned away to face the board and jot down the new notes that had appeared there in thick black marker.

“Whatever, man,” he mumbled, scratching out an answer.

* * *

In his cabin that night, Will stayed up late reading _Romeo and Juliet._ He was nearly finished – he was up to the part where Romeo kills Paris and enters the Capulet tomb to find Juliet’s body. Will had already called dibs on Romeo’s part. Nico had all but agreed that afternoon when he called him Romeo. Will felt a dumb smile come onto his face.

He would get to be the Romeo to Nico’s Juliet. It was basically his dream of three years come true. Maybe, too, he could find some way to tell Nico he liked him. Will was afraid of rejection, yes, but anything to alleviate the pangs in his chest whenever he saw the Italian boy. It was getting to the point he felt physically sick whenever Nico did something cute: tucked his hair behind his ear with the tip of a pencil, bit his lip, smiled. Gods, he’s do anything to see Nico smile. He’d probably have cardiac conniptions if Nico laughed. But it would be worth the heart attack to see that adorable bit of Hades kid be happy. He never saw Nico happy before unless he was around Percy or Jason.

Will flipped onto his back and held the play above his head, still reading. He couldn’t help comparing Percy to Paris – the courter of Juliet in the play. If Juliet in love with Paris and Paris was an oblivious idiot like Percy was and Nico was still Juliet. Will felt a weight in his chest at the thought. Yes, he’d seen how Nico talked about Percy, the light that came into his eyes at the mention of the Poseidon kid’s name. Will didn’t know for sure, but he thought Nico had a crush on Percy and if that was the case Will had no chance. Percy was an idiot sure, but he was a prodigy at Camp Half-Blood.

Will decided to call it a night and stuck a bit of colourful paper in the pages to mark his spot. Then he switched off his secret reading light, slipped _Romeo and Juliet_ under his pillow and fell asleep.

* * *

The next day Will had double English after morning break. He’d finished _Romeo and Juliet_ during Advanced Math previously, and the last line haunted him. It was by far his favourite part in the play, not including the little scenes between Romeo and Juliet. Those two were made for each other. He’d wondered in Math whether he could get away with kissing Nico during practice.

“Helloooo class!” Ms Dare sang as she entered the room after her students. Will sat his butt down on the chair beside the one that held Nico di Angelo. Will secretly envied that chair.

“How’re you all going with the play?” Ms Dare asked. Before anyone could answer she continued. “Because I’m sending you out in your pairs to read through it together today. I want you to go through the entire play before picking a scene to perform for the class as assessment. In each pair your characters need to co-exist together in the play. Examples being Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio and Benvolio, or even Mercutio and Tybalt. You decide, as long as they have a scene together.” She clapped her hands and waved them at the door. “So get going!”

Will picked his play up and smiled at Nico as he stood, also clutching his play. They started for the door.

“Do we smell or something?” Nico suddenly asked. “She wanted us out pretty bad.”

Will laughed as he and Nico branched off from the other drifting pairs. They headed for the woods next to the English room.

“We’re boys,” Will said. “I think we smell by default.”

Nico smiled, looking up at him, and Will literally felt his heart stop. If Nico had told him to die right then he would have. And he would have died a happy man for making the Hades kid smile again.

“Two smiles in two days,” Will joked, nudging Nico a bit. “You must be feeling generous.”

Nico rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get used to it,” he replied, walking further.

_Too late,_ Will thought.

“You should do it more often,” Will said as Nico bent a fern plant back so they could enter a clearing beyond it. Nico gave him a small frown.

“What?” he asked. “Bend ferns?”

Will shook his head, smirking.

“No, I mean smile.”

Nico wrinkled his nose, which Will thought was one of the most adorable things that kid could do.

“Why?”

Will couldn’t find it in himself to regret what he said next.

“Well, you never know who’s going to be falling in love with it.”

Nico stopped where he was, which was half-way across the little clearing they’d come to. He turned to look at Will.

“People don’t fall in love with me,” he said, and to Will it sounded so bitter it was verbalised vinegar to his ears.

“You’re Juliet,” Will reminded him. “Everyone’s falling in love with you.”

“Yeah? Well then, Romeo, open your book to Act One and we’ll see how fast you fall in love with Juliet.”

 


	3. Nico Sort-of-Kinda-ish-Maybe Gets a Date

**Chapter 3:**

**Nico Sort of-Kinda-ish-Maybe Gets a Date**

Nico wasn’t sure if he could handle performing _Romeo and Juliet_ with Will. Take their first practise as an example.

“We’ve pretty much already decided we’re going to be Romeo and Juliet respectively,” Will was saying as he flicked through the play. “I read it through and marked all the interactions between those two characters as I went.”

He suddenly looked up, a blush on his face.

“That sounded so much nerdier out loud,” he groaned. Nico hurriedly put up his hands.

“No no, it’s okay. I – um – actually did that too.” He held up his sticker-tagged book. Will grinned brightly at him.

“Alright then, Juliet,” the Apollo kid said, “let’s give you your Romeo.”

Nico hid his pink face behind the book. Will apparently didn’t notice, instead rigorously flicking through the pages.

“Romeo moping, la la la… Invited to the ball, whoop de do… Juliet and the Nurse trol lol lol… Mercutio being stupid, hum de dee… Ah ha!”

Nico looked up. He’d already found the page and was reading over it. Will excitedly pointed to the script in his hands. “Found it!”

“Good on you, Solace,” Nico teased. “I’ve only been waiting a century.”

“It’s actually only thirteen years Juliet waits for Romeo,” Will nodded seriously. Nico rolled his eyes.

“She doesn’t even know him that long,” he retorts. “She pretty much doesn’t wait for him at all.”

“And therein lies my point. Juliet’s impatient. So are you.” The little shit then proceeded to wink at Nico, making his face flush. Nico threw his play at Will’s head.

“Hey hey hey!” Will protested. “Juliet doesn’t throw books at her Romeo!”

“Yeah, well Nico throws books at his Will.”

Nico clapped a hand over his mouth, his ears reddening. Will whipped around to look at him, pleasant surprise on his face, before he started wiggling his eyebrows.

“So… I’m yours now, hmm?” he asked, grinning like a moron. Nico took his hands away, scowling.

“Are we doing this or not,” he snapped, crossing his arms. Will held his hands up, still beaming like the freakin’ sun.

“Yeah, yeah, we are. Here’s your book.” He handed Nico the fallen play.

“Right,” Nico grunted, opening it to Act One Scene Five. “You start, Solace.”

Will made a show of clearing his throat before looking down at his play and then gazing lovingly at Nico. Nico felt his face grow hot again. Will didn’t even seem to be trying.

“What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” he asked dreamily, blinking lazily at Nico, who was rooted to the spot. Will then changed persona into a confused staffsman.

“I know not, sir,” he replied to himself. Skipping back to where he was as Romeo, Will took on that dreamy, love-struck look again, and stared at Nico unabashedly.

“O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”

He then went off on a long spiel about how beautiful Juliet was. Nico watched him in fascination. He could literally _feel_ the waves of adoration coming off Will like it was a tangible tsunami of butt-kisser-y. Will started edging closer to Nico, looking him directly in the eye as he spoke the last few lines.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

“It’s the middle of the day,” Nico muttered, not stopping himself. Will laughed.

“Lighten up a little, di Angelo,” he snorted. “We’re never going to get this assignment the grades we deserve if you’re going to be a stiff actor.”

For some reason Nico felt a little stung by that.

“I haven’t even said anything!” he protested. Will raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah? I can tell by your demeanour that we have a lot of acting lessons to do.”

Nico scowled.

“You want acting? I’ll give you acting.” He took a step back, waiting for Will to deliver his next line. “I’ll give you Juliet.”

Will looked a little stunned for a moment, before he smirked.

“Fine by me,” he replied. “Let’s do this thing.”

Then he took on that lovey-dovey look again and walked slowly up to Nico. Nico inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a second. _I am Juliet. You can do this, di Angelo. Don’t let Bianca’s acting classes go in vain._

Nico turned around and pretended not to notice the prowling Romeo nearby. He felt Wills’ breath on his ear and inclined his head slightly.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” Will said, his delivery flawless.

_I am Juliet._

Nico glanced down at his play, checking the lines. Then he looked around at Will and schooled his face into an expression of delight.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,” he replied softly, his voice taking on a tone of lightness that surprised Nico as much as it did Will. He gently took Will’s free hand and caressed it. What? Shakespeare demanded he act.

“Which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch.” Nico leant in mischievously, a kind smile on his face. “And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”

He whispered the last line in Will’s ear, and Nico actually felt a shiver pass down the Apollo kid’s spine. Will didn’t react for the longest time.

“Oi, Solace,” Nico hissed. “Keep going.”

Will jerked himself, roughly pulling Nico too. His face, which Nico hadn’t been able to see before, was bright red and he stuttered as he said his line.

“H-Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”

Nico nodded solemnly, beyond amused by this entire thing. And he thought Shakespeare hated him!

“Ay, pilgrim,” he replied, glancing down again, “lips that they must use in prayer.”

Will said something else, but Nico was a little preoccupied with the rapid heartbeat he could hear through the other boy’s orange shirt. It sounded like someone had started abusing a bongo drum, hitting it fast and loud every time. He didn’t really hear Will give his line, but Nico noticed when he wasn’t talking anymore, and hurriedly said his next part.

“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”

Will, this time not stuttering, replied with, “Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take. Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.”

They were then both really, really quiet. Nico’s eyes flickered down and saw two words that almost made his legs give out.

_‘They kiss.’_

“Well,” Will coughed after a moment. “Um, what do we do now?”

Nico moved away from him, his face no longer what he now referred to as Juliet-Nico but back to Regular Nico.

“It says they kiss,” he deadpanned, and then felt heat run his face again. Will looked equally embarrassed, and Nico felt a small pang in his chest. He then cursed himself. He had no right to think of Will that way what was he stupid? The guy had already said he liked someone else.

“Well,” Will joked, “are we going to ‘kiss by th’book’?”

Nico looked down and realised that was a line in the play.

“Probably not,” he decided, missing the flash of hurt on Will’s face. After all, Nico thought he was being teased.

“But that scene’s definitely a, uh, good idea.” He looked up at Will. “I think it worked pretty well.”

To this Will scoffed.

“Pretty well? Di Angelo, where the Hades did you learn to act like that? Here I was thinking Juliet wouldn’t be any fun.”

Nico looked affronted.

“Excuse you, Solace, I’m plenty fun.” Will rolled his eyes.

“I’ve not seen you have fun once,” he argued.

“I’m capable of having fun without other people.” Nico crossed his arms. Will raised an eyebrow.

“Well I make it a goal to see you have fun, Nico.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully before his eyes brightened and he gave another grin that the Apollo kids were famous for: a blinding smile that caught the sun.

“There’s a leave weekend coming up!” he said excitedly. “Where we can go into New York and stuff. You and I are going together.”

Nico opened his mouth.

“No arguments.”

Nico closed his mouth.

He felt excited, scared, happy, worried and anticipative all at the same time.

“Fine,” he replied, closing his play just as the horn to signal the end of class burst through the trees, telling them to return and get their things. Will punched the air and ran out of the forest of trees, his legs taking him faster than Nico thought was humanly possible.

Nico sighed as he started out of the clearing too, rubbing his face.

“Juliet was in love with Romeo long before they were paired together,” he murmured to himself. But this time he wasn’t referring to the play dangling from his hand.

 


	4. A Heart to Heart with Will and Nico

**Chapter 4:**

**A Heart to Heart with Will and Nico**

Nico had long ago decided that ‘stalking’ was a far too harsh word for what he did. And ‘intense study of a specimen at long distances’ was a little scientific. He’d seen other people – _read:_ Percy Jackson – hiding in the trees and bushes outside Lupa’s Academy just to get a secret snapshot of their girlfriends in her natural environment. On Percy’s phone his folder of Annabeth pictures was called _When Wise Girl Doesn’t Know I’m There._ It was by far the creepiest picture file Nico had ever seen.

So Nico had opted for a more subtle approach.

That was where he was now, lying on his back on his bed in the Hades cabin, listening to music, the snoring of Mrs O’Leary, and looking through the pictures in his simply named _Sunshine_ folder. As of yet no one had caught on to his modus operandi of classified Will Solace photos. Maybe it was because he never gave his phone to people. Maybe it was because he had triple password locked the file. In any case, the only people who’d seen it were a couple of his close friends and even Percy had thought they were just snaps of a sunrise.

Well, they sort of were. In a poetic sense.

Nico was just admiring a particularly nice photo of Will practicing archery when a quiet but demanding knock rang over the noise of the Fall Out Boy quietly playing through the room. Nico practically fell off his bed, instinctively turning off his phone and holding it close like his own personal baby. He stared at the door.

It was past the time all students were meant to be in their beds. The affectionately named ‘patrol harpies’ would be after any butts that moved from their designated seats. Someone had risked life and limb to knock on Nico’s door.

He didn’t particularly want to answer it.

Another knock, louder this time, echoed through his cabin. Nico edged closer, his unoccupied hand reaching for the three-foot black sword next to his door. Yes, it was his sword. No, there was no problem with it being in his cabin. He’d made it, he could do what he liked with it. Dems the rules. Their school was a little unorthodox.

Nico leaned against the door, sword in hand.

“Nico!”

Nico jumped back from the crack, dropping his sword on the floor and stuffing his phone in his pocket as though the person outside had X-Ray vision and could see that his pictures folder was full to bursting with photos of them.

Why was Will Solace outside his door at eight-thirty in the evening?

Nico inched back to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked one eye out and was greeted with the sheepish smile of aptly named Sunshine.

“Hi,” Will whispered. Nico raised an eyebrow and opened the door a little wider.

“Keep going,” he suggested. “Get to the part where you tell me why you’re outside my cabin after hours.”

Will rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“The others locked me out,” he said, his cheeks pink. “Lee said that Percy wanted to see me so we could work out a schedule for tomorrow because it’s Saturday and there’s no classes.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Nico rolled his eyes. “I’ve been going to this school for four years, I think I know by now we don’t have lessons on the weekend. But why are you here?”

Will shuffled his feet.

“Well, I said my cabin locked me out. They said Percy wanted to talk to me and I left, but when I got to the Poseidon cabin it was locked and the lights were out. So I went back to my rooms but when I got _there_ it was locked too!” He threw up his arms in exasperation. “And I was wandering around, trying to avoid the harpies when I saw your cabin and…”

He looked down.

“I suppose I was wondering if I could hide in here for a little bit.”

It took Nico’s brain a couple of seconds to compute what Will said. Then a couple more seconds to have a tiny mental party that Will considered them close enough to come to him for help when his cabin mates played a prank on him. He wondered if he should close the door though. His sanity might not be able to handle being alone in his cabin with Will Solace.

“Get in quick so the harpies don’t see,” Nico found himself saying, because he is a weak, weak person who had already lost his mind long ago so what does one night with Will mean to him. A lot, was his silent answer when he found himself blushing at Will’s grateful smile.

“Thank you so much, Nico,” Will breathed, holding his chest and collapsing on the floor while Nico closed the door. “I thought I was going to get _eaten!”_

“I heard a rumour the harpies were cannibals,” Nico added helpfully. The harpies were what the students called the guard patrol who made sure no one was out of their cabins after eight. They were vicious things and attacked on sight. The director, Chiron, assured the students that they were safe as long as they stayed indoors. The harpies were there for their protection, anyway. From what, Nico had a small theory.

Will shot him a look.

“Not helping, di Angelo,” he huffed, rolling onto his back. “I was sure I was going to die. Thank the gods you’re such a kind soul.”

Nico gave a shocked snort and frowned at his temporary roommate.

“You’re kidding,” he deadpanned. Will shook his head, his breathing still heavy.

“Not,” he replied. “You’re a nice person. You just don’t accept it because no one tells you.”

Nico rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed, leaning against the wall.

“I’m not nice,” he refused. Will flopped onto his side to look at Nico.

“Yes, you are,” the Apollo kid said. “Just now you saved my butt from cannibalistic school guards.”

“That’s one time,” Nico objected. Will held his arm up in the air for silence.

“And if you’re listening, Nico,” he continued, “you’ll hear the contented snores of a gigantic dog who you took in after the owner died right on our campus. Sans owner, that dog would have gone to the pound. What did you do? You said anyone who tried to take Mrs O’Leary would get your Stygian sword up their asses and a kick to boot.” Will looked over at aforementioned ‘gigantic dog’, who was making throaty noises as she slept on one of the unused beds. Nico felt his face heat up.

“That was one time,” he repeated. Will shook a crafty finger.

“According to your count it’s two now,” he replied, grinning. “And I have plenty more evidence, di Angelo, so just sit back and listen to a recount of your heroic deeds.”

“I’m starting to wish I left you outside,” Nico grumbled, flopping down onto his pillow. He waited in trepidation for the onslaught of bull that was about to come out of Will’s mouth, but it never came. Nico shifted his gaze over to the blond boy on his rug to find him with a small, happy smile on his face and his fingers pointing to the iPod dock player that was still humming away through the room. With growing horror Nico realised he had simply done a deal with the devil and traded one hell for another.

“ _There are times when I don’t know where I stand, wow, sometimes,  
You make me feel like I’m a boy and not a man, wow, sometimes.”_

The iPod had betrayed him and played one of his more sentimental songs. _Heart to Heart_ had been one of Nico’s favourites for a long time standing. It reminded him of Bianca, his full sister, who’d died the same time he came to Chiron’s Academy. She’d been at her own boarding school, run by a Lady Artemis. One day there was an attack and Bianca and another girl Percy knew, Zoe Nightshade, were killed. Nico often wondered if this was why Chiron’s and Lupa’s had cannibals as patrol guards.

“I didn’t know you liked James Blunt,” Will said. Nico looked away.

“I don’t,” he said quietly. “I just… like that song.”

Will sat up, apparently sensing that there was a time for jokes and this was not it.

“Is there a reason?” he asked softly. Nico took a deep breath. Bianca had been a sore subject for most of his life, even when she was alive. Even as a kid he loved and defended her to his last breath, or at least he tried. When she died, no one went near Nico for weeks in case he cut their heads off. Even years later he still wasn’t over it.

But Will was nice. He was kind. Nico knew he understood what losing a sibling was like. One of Will’s cabin mates died on her way to school in a car crash and at the Academy, your cabin was your family.

“It reminds me of my sister,” Nico replied, looking at his hands.

“Hazel?” Will asked. Nico shook his head.

“No, my other one. My full sister. She… died, four years ago. In the attack on Huntress College.”

Will got up off the floor and silently sat down beside Nico, laying his hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder.

“It’s a nice song,” he said finally. “I bet she was a lovely person.”

“She was,” Nico agreed, twisting the skull ring on his finger. That had been a gift from Bianca, a week before the school was compromised. Nico still had the letter she’d attached to it.

“Does it make you sad?” Will suddenly asked. Nico looked at him, frowning.

“What?”

“The song,” Will clarified. “Does it make you sad?”

Nico shrugged, not used to talking about it.

“A little,” he admitted. He felt Will grin beside him.

“Well, we’re going to make it happy,” he announced. “Every time you hear it you’ll grin like a moron.”

“Like you’re doing now?” Nico teased. Will looked at him with an exaggerated expression of hurt.

“That is not nice!” he yelped, dramatically falling off the bed.

“Told you,” Nico said, lying back down. “I’m not nice.”

Will sighed as he rolled on the floor some more.

“I don’t know how a simple rescue turned into a Deep and Meaningful,” he pouted. “Isn’t the hero supposed to kiss the damsel and they get married happily ever after?”

Nico hid his furious blush in his pillow. Why, Will?

“Are you calling yourself a damsel?” he asked, his voice muffled. Will squawked in dissent. 

“No!” he squeaked. “…yes. No! I didn’t- I’m Romeo!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Will pointed an accusing finger at Nico.

“ _You’re_ the damsel,” he said, “ _you_ go get into trouble so I can rescue you.”

“Yes,” Nico hummed, his face still buried in the pillow. “Juliet’s really good at doing what she’s told.”

“Oh shut up, di Angelo!” Something hit Nico’s leg and he looked around long enough to see what it was.

“Did you just throw your shoe at me?”

“I might have,” Will sniffed.

“You’re the worst Romeo.”

“Yeah, well, you have the wrong colour hair for Juliet.”

“That’s the best you can do?”

“So what if it is?”

“Maybe we should swap, since you’re obviously better Juliet material.”

“I never said that!”

“It was implied.”

“You’re impossible.”

“Thank you.”


	5. Will and Romeo Share a Soliloquy

**Chapter 5:**

**Will and Romeo Share a Soliloquy**

Will was surprised how easily the night passed without incident.

By incident, he meant tackling the obliviously adorable bit of Tall, Dark and di Angelo and kissing him senseless. There were a few moments Will had barely stopped himself, and he could remember them all. He vowed they would forever be burned into the mental folder of ‘Almost’s’ in the twenty-million gigabyte file on Nico di Angelo in his brain.

It was official. Will Solace had long moved passed the ‘vague but still intense crush’ stage and was too deep to get out of the ‘if he looks at me I faint,’ faze. He hoped he wouldn’t start having fanboy attacks. That could get messy.

Sneaking out of the Hades cabin in the morning was easier than he expected. The door faced the woods, so he could run out quietly and then come back saying he’d gone for an early morning jog. Nico had even lent him a baggy black sweatshirt so he could hide better. Will had pulled the warm garment on right away and grinned at Nico.

“It’s perfect!” he’d exclaimed, showing Nico how the sleeves hung over his hands and how the neck drooped down to the collar of his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. Nico had given a quiet laugh and Will had to discreetly cover his face to hide his small blush. Then he left and as he was running, he looked back just once. Will saw Nico at the door, half hidden by it, and looking out, watching him leave. At that moment, Will felt like the boyfriend who’d stayed the night without the parents knowing. He wished that he could feel that way and know it was true.

Entering the Apollo cabin after finding the door had miraculously unlocked, Will glared at the first people he saw. One boy, Michael Yew, had the decency to look embarrassed. Lee on the other hand, just raised his eyebrow and said, “Whose sweater’s that?”

Will scowled at him as he moved to his bed, rubbing his hair and deciding he needed a shower.

“A friend’s,” he replied, gathering up clean clothes and heading for the bathroom. “And thanks’ for locking me out, by the way, guys. Really nice of you.”

“Will-”

“Do you know that the harpies are cannibals? I could have _died!”_

“Will-”

“You’re all _so_ lucky I found somewhere to hide.”

“SOLACE!” Lee shouted, and Will halted halfway through the bathroom door. Lee was looking at something on his back.

“What?” Will asked, twisting to try and see himself. Michael was smirking.

“Your sweater says _Cabin 13_ on the back _,”_ Lee deadpanned. Will felt his breath stutter and rocks pile into his stomach.

Shit.

On one hand, Will was immediately in love with the sweater and planned on never giving it back. On the other…

“Did you hide with di Angelo?”

Will glanced over his shoulder to see Lee looking at him with an ‘I know all so cut the crap and spill’ expression. Michael was kind of just giggling behind his hand.

“So what if I did?” Will replied, feeling defensive. Lee sighed and there was a beat of silence before he dug around in his pocket and fished out a five dollar bill. Michael took the money gleefully before prancing off. Will stared at Lee in disbelief.

“What the Hades was that?” he shouted. Lee shrugged.

“I did some research,” he said. “Found out your partner for the Romeo and Juliet thing. It doesn’t take Sherlock to see you’ve got a bloody big thing for Nico, Will.”

Will grabbed his head and leant against the door frame, groaning.

“Fuck me.”

“I’m going to leave that particular duty up to di Angelo, actually,” Lee replied. Will heard his footsteps leaving the cabin.

“I hate you!” Will yelled after him, throwing the first thing he decided was flight-worthy. His clean t-shirt sailed through the air and flapped gently over Lee’s head. Will stormed into the bathroom, not bothering to check the fruits of his hard-won labour, and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

 

When Will exited his angry-but-calming shower, he realised he had a problem.

Throwing his shirt at Lee had left him minus one important article of clothing. He didn’t want to walk around without the top half of his outfit this early in the morning, but he wasn’t in the mood for sticking around in his cabin any longer than it took to run out and slam the door. But the only piece of clothing that could do the job was…

Will decided he’d never had anything against sweaters and since it was mid-Autumn, he would wear the damn thing.

Wanting to put it on also had absolutely nothing to do with the fact it was clearly Nico’s. Will was adamant on this fact. Leaving the bathroom, Will whizzed past his bed, grabbed his copy of _Romeo and Juliet,_ and slammed the cabin door behind him, letting the building rattle on its foundations and hopefully pissing off a couple of his siblings.

Will headed for the edge of the forest and sat down in the shade of a really tall tree. It would be good to climb, he decided. So, putting the play between his teeth, Will reached up for the first branch. Swinging his legs onto it as well, he balanced long enough to scramble to the trunk and shimmy his way further.

Five minutes later, Will was seven meters off the ground and very happy with himself. He was seated on a thick limb of the tree, his legs dangling down on either side, and his back against the main bark.  Sunlight dappled the leaves around him and Will closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the smell of early morning, plantation, living things and of course, the addictive scent of Nico di Angelo’s sweater. It was like pomegranates, and something else. Will wasn’t sure how it was possible for someone to smell like the shadows, but Nico did it. _Eau du Darkness,_ maybe. _Bottled Night._ Whatever it was, Will liked it.

Opening his play to the second marker that signified a Romeo/Juliet interaction, Will started reading to himself in a whisper.

“He jests at scars that never felt a wound.” Will couldn’t help but compare his opening line to what just happened with Lee.

“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”

Nico was the night, actually. Will decided to skip the whole moon-hating thing.

“It is my lady; O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were!”

If only Nico knew Will liked him more than friends.

Suddenly there was movement below him, and Will looked down. He bit his tongue to stop a call of surprise when he saw Nico sliding down to sit on the ground at the foot of the same tree Will himself was in. The Hades kid seemed to have headphones in and was opening his copy of _Romeo and Juliet_ to what Will thought he could see was the same scene he was looking at. He watched Nico’s eyes skim over what he had just said and Will had a ridiculous feeling that this scene was a prophecy written hundreds of years ago just for this moment.

“She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?”

Will continued with his spiel of Juliet-love, looking at Nico the whole time.

“Her eyes discourses; I will answer it.”

Nico looked up from his book and glanced around. Will really did want to slide down and talk to him.

“I am to bold,” he sighed. “Tis not to me she speaks.”

Nico went back to his play. Will skipped a few lines and continued from there.

“The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, as daylight doth a lamp.

“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!”

There was a moment of silence from both parties until Nico, who couldn’t have known Will was in the tree and obviously had wicked timing skills, suddenly sighed and said, “Ay me!”

Will almost laughed at the perfection of the entire moment.

“She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel!”

Didn’t di Angelo mean ‘angel’ in Italian?

Down at the bottom of the tree, Nico looked away from his book and out to the horizon, where the sun was still rising.

“O, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

_In the tree,_ Will wanted to say. It was legitimately the entire scene reversed: Romeo was up high and Juliet was on the ground. Will was the sun and Nico was the night. Need he go on?

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

Will checked his play and found yet another irony.

“Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?”

Will decided to completely screw the entire thing, and carefully put his play in his back pocket before jumping off the branch where he’d been sitting. His hands caught one a meter down and he swung dangerously for a moment before his feet found purchase and he stepped down onto another trunk. He repeated this until there was only a two-meter drop left. He leapt off, grinning like a fool, and just before he hit the ground he tucked into a roll and came up undamaged. Swivelling around, Will gave Nico a delighted grin.

“Hiya!” he greeted. Nico jumped so hard his shirt grated against the bark and scratched the back of his neck. His eyes shot to Will and widened. He hastily pulled one of the earbuds out.

“Di immortals, Solace!” he gasped. “Where the Hades did you come from?”

Will hesitantly pointed up.

“About seven meters above you,” he replied sheepishly. “I, uh, was going over the next scene.”

Nico glanced at his book.

“Me too,” he replied, his face a tiny bit pink. Will decided it was probably the shock of having someone jump out of a tree almost on top of you. Will pulled his play back out and started thumbing back to the page he was at.

“So…” he started, but Nico unexpectedly looked up at him, a wicked gleam in his eye.

“What man art thou, that thus bescreen’d in night so stumblest on my council?”

It took a minute for Will to understand what he meant and a second more to swallow his laughter. Di Angelo, that little shit. Instead he followed up with Romeo.

“By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am: my name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word,” he replied, grinning at Nico as the other boy pasted on a confused expression.

“My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound: art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?” He looked at Will in a way that made the Apollo kid forget his own name, screw Romeo’s.

“Probably,” he said instead, completely breaking the act into a thousand tiny little pieces of Romeo and Juliet.

Under the tree, Nico rolled his eyes, a tiny flicker of a smile on his face.

“Very literate, Solace,” he said, glancing at Will through his eyelashes. Will’s chest constricted.

“Aren’t I just?” he asked rhetorically, moving towards Nico and making a gesture like, ‘Mind if I invade your space?’ Surprisingly Nico just nodded and Will sat down beside him.

“So what’s that you’re listening to?” Will asked. Nico hesitated, before taking an iPod out of his hoodie pocket and showing Will the screen, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

“Breaking Benjamin,” Will noted, nodding in agreement. “I see that. Which song?”

Nico wordlessly handed Will the earbud he’d taken out before, and Will put it in. He was greeted with a sudden slow break in the song before words started drifting through.

“I Will Not Bow,” the blond said, looking at Nico with a small grin. Nico didn’t meet his eye. “Suits you.”

Will was met with a sceptical look, and he sat up a little. He enjoyed explaining to Nico why he was amazing. It made him feel like he was justifying his crush _to_ his crush. Which he sort of was.

“I mean it, Nico. The whole, _I take crap from no one, I don’t give up, I’m a stubborn little shit and it’ll get me killed one day but I’ll love every second_ theme has Nico di Angelo written all over it. ‘I will not bow, I will not break, I will shut the world away.’ I see it.” Will stared at Nico intently, basically forcing the black haired boy’s reflex’s to look at him. “’I will not fall, I will not fade.’ You’re as strong as they come, Nico.”

Will took the earbud out, sensing a bit of emotional turmoil in the boy beside him. He shifted to face Nico. The Hades kid wouldn’t look up to meet his gaze.

“I’m not great,” Nico whispered, staring off to the side. Will – yes, maybe his hand would be bitten off but he did it anyway – touched his fingers to the underside of Nico’s chin and gently moved the other boy’s face to look at him.

“Well, whatever you think, know that there are so many people who admire you. And I am proud to be taking you out to McDonalds next weekend when we go on leave.”

At this, Nico raised an eyebrow. Will mentally slapped himself. Way to kill the mood, Solace.

“I like McDonalds.”

Well, that was unexpected.

“I knew that,” Will reassured himself, earning an odd look from his company. He quickly took his hand away and waved it around in the air, as though it might catch an excuse for him to use.

“I mean, you know, its common knowledge!” he exclaimed, gesturing wildly. “Nico di Angelo – McDonalds. They’re practically synonyms.”

Nico snorted, thankfully, and Will decided he could breathe a little easier now.

“You’re as bad as Percy,” he told Will. Generally, that was an insult. But since Will had a raging theory Nico had a thing for Percy Jackson, the Apollo kid considered it a gigantic victory. He shot to his feet and pumped the air in some semblance of a victory dance and before Nico could ask him what that was about, Will took off running, grinning like a madman.

“I’ll see your ass at sword training, di Angelo!” he called over his shoulder.

“My ass will be there, don’t worry, Solace!” was the reply. Will did a little unmanly squeal that he later denied to any ear-witnesses.

“Hang on, Solace!”

Will skidded to a halt and whipped around to see Nico, standing up and staring at him.

“Is that my sweater?”

Will proceeded to bullshit his answer, explaining how Lee viciously stole his only shirt in an extreme fight to the death earlier that day.


	6. Will Uses a Sweater for Evil

**Chapter 6:**

**Will Uses a Sweater for Evil**

Nico’s ass was definitely at sword training, Will noted. The Hades boy had a fine booty, but it was nothing compared to his chest. Will silently both thanked and dammed the hot sun for making Nico take his shirt off.

Will watched in absolute awe as Nico deftly cut down every dummy he came up against. The Hephaestus cabin had mechanicalised them, so they actually fought back and didn’t just stand there waiting to get sliced up. It was Nico against about twenty, and he was slashing them down one by one, not getting hit. Will supposed that you didn’t just go to Camp Half-Blood and not excel at some kind of weapon. He himself was pretty handy with a bow and arrow, and from long afternoons spent trailing behind Nico, Will knew he was good with archery too.

When training was finished, Will was heading for the stands where Nico was taking a drink with the intention of talking to him about that night’s game of Capture the Flag. It was a Saturday night tradition, and cabins made pacts with each other to fight on the same team. Every second week they had a game where they were allowed real weapons. In those games, they weren’t allowed to take prisoners or bind people. But in the no-weapons one it was free-for-all. The only way to win was either through hand-to-hand, or kidnapping the entire opposing team.

Will was rudely shoved from his musings of Nico being carried away by some evil shadowy people and yelling for Will to save him by the sight of Conner and Travis Stoll talking to Nico. Frowning, Will sped up, just in time to catch their conversation.

“…Percy said you might be on our team for Capture the Flag tonight,” Conner was saying.

“So we wanted to know if you were,” Travis finished. Nico tugged his black shirt back on over his head before answering.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Percy already traded training slots with me so I’d join the blue team. I’m playing with you guys tonight.”

Conner and Travis high-fived before they ran off. Will approached Nico, his insides melting. Nico had already promised he’d play on Percy’s team. This day was taking a downhill ride. Will knew for certain that Apollo and Hermes were on opposite teams tonight.

“Hi,” he greeted. Nico swung around, and his face instantly flushed.

“Uh, hi, Will,” Nico replied unsteadily, his eyes flicking to the tanned, toned chest that was on full display because, oh dear, Will had taken his sweater off. No matter how much he loved the thing, it was too hot to fight in easily.

“So, you’re on blue tonight,” Will said uneasily. Nico nodded, turning his head away and continuing to pack his training bag.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I traded sword training slots with Percy this morning in exchange for going blue.”

“Then I guess we’re on opposite sides,” Will said. Nico looked up at him.

“Oh,” he said slowly. “Yeah.” He shook his head and went back to zipping up his bag. “I forgot Apollo had done the challenging this week.”

“My cabin needed closure,” Will argued, a small smile on his face. He’d challenged the Hermes cabin at dinner a few nights ago to this weeks’ Capture the Flag on account of their latest prank turning one of his siblings hair bright green.

“Yes, the green-dye-in-the-shower-head thing,” Nico hummed, shouldering his bag. “I was surprised Austin’s whole body wasn’t green.”

“Me too,” Will agreed, stepping into stride with the other boy. They seemed to be walking over to where his things were.

“I guess it was only hair-dye though,” Nico mused as Will bent down to quickly pack his own bag and put the sweater back on.

“You’re still wearing my sweater,” Nico noticed as Will stood back up. Will blushed and rubbed his cheeks sheepishly.

“Yeah,” he said. “It was all I had.” He picked at the front of it. “Do you want it back?”

“No,” Nico said hurriedly. “You can keep it. It’s far too big for me, anyway.”

“You’re just saying that because it’s sweaty now,” Will teased. Nico held his hands up.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” he objected. “I just don’t mind you having it, is all.”

“Mmhm,” Will hummed, smirking. He pulled the bottom of the humongous sweater out and deftly yanked it down over Nico’s head. Nico squawked as he tried to get out. Will felt tingles of cold shudder down his spine as Nico’s hair brushed against his stomach.

Suddenly a nest of ruffled black locks popped out of the neck hole next to Will. The Apollo kid looked down in surprise, before he laughed.

Nico had used the massiveness of the sweater to his advantage, and in consequence, he was little more than an inch from Will’s face. His cheeks were bright pink as he stuttered.

“N-Not cool, Solace!” he cried, trying to drop his bag off his shoulder so he could use his arms to pull himself out. Will was too busy giggling at how cute Nico looked – a pale little face in a sea of black sweater cloth.

“Sorry, sorry,” Will said as he calmed down. He reached around to find the bottom of the sweater. The hem was resting just against Nico’s back, and Will wasn’t sure if he imagined the little shiver the other boy got when his fingers touched the skin under his shirt.

Will managed to find the edge of the sweater and pull it off Nico. He was grinning the whole way. It was worth it all to be in such close proximity to his crush. Nico looked embarrassed and rumpled, his hair sticking up each and every way.

“That was evil use of a sweater,” he grumbled, shrugging his bag on his shoulder and pouting at Will. Will grabbed his own stuff and they started walking out.

“Nah, you liked it,” Will joked, waving his hand in the air. Nico glared at him and Will put his hands in the air, surrendering, a huge smile still on his face. They kept walking and the conversation started up again. Somehow they got onto the subject of whether showering before Capture the Flag was worth it since they’d just get all sweaty again anyway. It took Will a long time to notice that they’d passed the Apollo cabin and were coming up to Hades. Nico stepped onto the porch of the creepy black cabin, shooting a smile at Will over his shoulder.

“Do you want to do some play practice before the game?” Nico asked. He seemed almost shy. Will could tell his face had lit up like Las Vegas at night and he nodded vigorously.

“Yep, yep, yep,” he said, grinning wildly.

“Then you’re going to need to shower,” Nico told him. He pointed to the same tree they’d met at that morning. “I’ll see you there in fifteen minutes.”

Will started to leave and he waved back at Nico, yelling, “See you soon, Stinky!”

“Bye, Smelly!” Nico shouted in response, before his door closed and Will started back to his own cabin. He couldn’t stop smiling the whole way.

* * *

 

They went to Act Three, Scene Five, as the next Romeo and Juliet interaction.

“Where’s this bit again?” Will asked as he thumbed through his tags, looking for the right one. Nico coughed.

“It’s after, um… after Romeo and Juliet… ah… _consummate their marriage.”_

Will felt his cheeks heat up a little.

“Oh,” he said softly. “You mean they-”

“Let’s stop there, shall we?” Nico interrupted, holding his play open and clearing his throat. Will ducked his head and had a long look over the lines.

“You’re starting here, Neeks,” he said.

Nico shot him a grumpy look and muttered something like, “Don’t call me Neeks.”

“Fine,” Will tried again. “You’re starting here, Death Boy.”

“That’s no better!” Nico cried, staring at him. Will shrugged.

“Well, it’s your nickname now so get used to it.”

Nico grumbled as he started his line.

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day…”

* * *

 

They ran that scene once through and then sat under the tree together, waiting for the sun to finish setting on the horizon.

“I just realised,” Will said, “that Romeo and Juliet have like, five scenes together: they meet, they kiss, they get married, they get frisky, and then they die.”

“You just summed up the circle of life,” Nico said blandly, before he cracked a smile. Will laughed and casually slung an arm around the black haired boy’s shoulders.

“You made a funny,” he said, sticking his tongue out. “I like it when you make funnies.”

“You’re talking like a baby,” Nico parroted. “I hate it when you talk like a baby.”

“Aw, come on!” Will whined.  

When the two parted to get ready for Capture the Flag, Nico made the ‘I’m watching you’ sign at him. Will did finger-guns and shot the other boy, winking as he did so. Nico rolled his eyes and headed off, waving behind his back. Will walked to his cabin, whistling a tune he’d heard his mother sing to him as a kid.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAPTURE THE FLAG UP NEXT YAY!  
> Jasmine out!


	7. Lee Fletcher Strangles a Tree

**Chapter 7:**

**Lee Fletcher Strangles a Tree**

The red plume on Will’s helmet flopped backwards as he straightened up from the strategy meeting with his team to crack his back. As the counsellor for the cabin leading tonight’s game, he was in charge of designating campers where they were meant to go. He got the Athena cabin – who was mercifully on his team – to get to work on a strategy.

“The blue team has both Percy and Nico. That’s a fair amount of power right there,” Malcom was saying to Will, the rest of the red team surrounding them, waiting for orders.

“I can take Percy,” Jason offered, his face in a gleeful smile. Will nodded to him.

“Do it,” he replied. “Distract him or take him in, whatever you can.”

Jason, Percy and Nico were known through Chiron’s as the Big Three – ironic, considering their cabins. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were the ‘eldest gods’ of Greek Mythology. Jason and Percy had been going to Camp Half-Blood since they were little kids, and were so skilled with weapons and world knowledge they even taught younger students. That didn’t stop them being idiots, though.

Nico was a little powerhouse unto himself, Will decided. Small, fast, and with the ability to almost become one with the shadows. Every team wanted him for Capture the Flag when they played, especially on weapons nights.

Jason nodded, a grin on his face.

“I’ll distract him alright,” he promised. “Time I got my revenge for the Torpedo Thing.”

Will almost asked. Almost. Then he remembered this was Percy Jackson and Jason Grace he was talking about. He closed his mouth.

“Leo Valdez is on the blue team as well,” Malcom continued, sweeping a token that represented the Hephaestus cabin across his strategy board. So far the tokens for Apollo, Hecate, Zeus, Ares, Athena and Nemesis were on their side of the board. The blue side had Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Hermes and Aphrodite. There was still a bunch of tokens on the edge of the board, waiting for Malcom to put them down.

“We’ll need to look out for him. He’s been working long hours in the forge this week; something for tonight definitely. We don’t know what it might be so keep your guard up.”

Everyone watched Malcom sit up on the ground and look up at them all.

“Ares can handle Leo,” he told Will. The Ares campers cheered, raising their fists. “Whatever he’s cooked up can’t be armed, so they should be able to take it, easy. Jason can take some of Athena if he wants, to tackle Percy.”

Jason nodded.

“I’ll bring them,” he said. “The sooner we kick Jackson’s ass the better.”

“The last single opponent we need to bump is Nico.” Malcom pointed to the Hades tile. “He’ll be the biggest problem for the defenders if we don’t find him.”

“We’ll take di Angelo,” a voice from behind Will said. The Apollo counsellor looked around to see Lee Fletcher with his hand in the air.

“Good idea,” Malcom said, turning back to his strategy board. “Apollo cabin is in charge of finding Nico. As soon as you get him, bring him back here. We can’t let him loose or this game is as good as lost.” The Athena boy looked up at Will. “You okay with that?”

Will was trying to remember how to breathe properly, and he barely managed a nod.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “Nico. Got it.”

“He’s got it, alright,” Lee whispered behind him. Will aimed a kick backwards and it hit Lee’s calf. Will was unrepentant of the pained huff he got in response. The idiot deserved it.

Malcom then went on to instruct the rest of the cabins what they would be doing. Something about the Hecate boys taking a tree-top route and fireflies. Will wasn’t really listening. He briefly wondered why Malcom wanted fireflies before his thoughts immediately turned back to Nico. They were purely strategic thoughts, mind you. Totally strategic. He was simply thinking of kidnapping Nico. See? Strategic. That was the whole point of the Apollo cabin going after the single Hades camper. Will told himself he wasn’t thinking of kidnapping Nico away from the entire game for a make-out session in the Hades cabin. Of course not.

His whole situation was very Hades-esque, once he started thinking of it. Here he was, unrequitedly falling harder and harder for an unattainable beauty and someone was telling him he could go abduct said beauty from where they were supposed to be and take them away. It was Hades and Persephone all over again, except Will was Hades and Nico was Persephone. That didn’t work in his mind because Nico hated flowers and Will didn’t live underground. Plus, Malcom didn’t resemble Zeus in any way. But still. The concept was the same.

“Okay,” Malcom finally said, snapping Will of out of his Hades revere. “We’re ready. As soon as the conch shell blows-”

A deafeningly low and loud blare of sound suddenly erupted through the woods, interrupting Malcom.

“GO!” he finished anyway. That was the conch shell blowing. You had to take what you got, Will supposed.

Rolling his shoulders, Will shouted once to the Apollo cabin before leading them into the forest. They had a Hades kid to find. 

* * *

 

Said Hades kid was proving even more elusive than they expected.

Will could hear the sounds of campers tackling each other and even the obnoxious yelling of Percy and Jason going at it on the other end of the woods. They were that loud. Will didn’t even want to know how they managed to involve the stream in their fight because listening to the water slap around was enough to make him wince.

“What the Tartarus could they be _doing_ over there?” Michael whispered to him, hefting the small coil of rope that was resting on his shoulder. Will shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “But I have a feeling I’ll be treating it back in the infirmary when this is over.”

“If you want this to be over,” Lee growled, “quit yapping and help us find your Juliet, Solace. This is getting ridiculous.”

Will passionately denied his face heating up at the mention of Nico being ‘his Juliet’.

“Can it, Fletcher,” he hissed back. “You think I want to go and treat those two water-smacking idiots?”

“You’re avoiding the task at hand,” Lee told him. “Why can’t you just go get on your knees and preach some Romeo shit? That should bring di Angelo out.”

Will kicked his surrogate brother again.

“Yeah, bring him out to laugh at me,” he said angrily. “Just shut up, Lee.”

“I’d deny laughing at you,” a sudden, new voice said from above the Apollo boys. “But that would be lying.”

Will shot around and squinted up at the tree where the sound had come from.

“Nico?” he asked. There was a flap of shadows before the answer.

“No, it’s Caspar the Friendly Ghost, Solace– of course it’s me.”

Beside Will, Michael started uncoiling the rope. Lee nodded at the other boy in approval. Will didn’t notice – he just wanted to find Nico.

“Where are you?” he asked the dark air. There was another subtle move in the shadows before Nico replied, his voice changing spots.

“Good idea,” Nico replied sarcastically. “Give my position away to people trying to find me.”

“Uh,” another boy, Austin, said. He was the one who’d gotten his hair turned green by the Hermes cabin. “You just did that anyway.”

Nico scoffed.

“But do you know exactly where I am?” he replied. Before anyone could guess he said, “No, didn’t think so.”

“Come on, di Angelo,” Lee grumbled, looking around at all the shadows and holding up his fists. “Don’t hide like a coward; fight me.”  

“Do you want to get beaten up by someone shorter than you?” came the response. Despite the moonlight not giving the best view, Will saw Lee’s cheeks darken.

“I can take you,” the angry Apollo boy spat. Nico gave a chuckle before a cold wind told the group he’d changed spots again. Damn, he was good at hiding.

“The only thing being taken is your flag,” the Hades kid said.  

Lee roared and lunged for the place Nico’s voice seemed to be coming from. Will watched in horror as Lee’s hands seemed to close around something suspiciously the same size as a human neck. Lee started throttling whatever he’d grabbed with all his strength.

“Jeez,” Nico said again, this time apparently behind Will. “What did that tree ever do to you?”

Will sighed in relief. Lee turned on him and poked his chest.

“Whose side are you on?” he accused. Will put up his hands.

“Calm down, Lee,” he told his sibling. “We can’t catch Nico if you’re acting crazy.”

“And I can’t catch your flag if I’m here talking to you guys, so-” Another ruffle of shadows “-Bye!”

Will pointed in the direction of their flag, watching as a Nico-shaped being phased in and out of visibility as he flicked through the darkness.

“Let’s go!” he told his cabin. “Now or never.”

They all ran after Will, who locked his eyes on Nico. _Sassy little shit,_ Will thought, an amused smile appearing on his face. Will saw Lee scowling out of the corner of his eye.

 _I will not lose this game to a sarcastic ass,_ Will decided, running faster. _Even if he is totally adorable._


	8. Nico Accepts his Inner Juliet

**Chapter 8**

**Nico Accepts his Inner Juliet**

Nico knew he’d have to save Percy Jackson’s butt the moment his teammate blew the whistle.

With the Apollo cabin on his tail, an angry Lee Fletcher and sexy Will Solace among them, he didn’t like having to deviate from the plan. But if Percy was incapacitated or taken prisoner, what little left of their strategy would fall to pieces.

“Taking a detour,” he muttered. “Hold on tight.”

He changed directions abruptly, heading for the spot he could hear the shrill tooting coming from. The Hephaestus cabin had supplied the blue team with what they honest-to-gods called ‘rape whistles’. It was some pop-culture reference Nico didn’t get. He was an old-school fella, he thought. But the point was, if any of the blue team were ambushed, they would make enough noise to either signal their capture or to get help. Based on how long Percy had managed to blow for, he wanted help.

“Holy Hera, Jackson,” Nico grumbled, leaping over a fallen tree. “What in Hades could have gotten your toga in such a twist?”

Apparently the Apollo cabin had awful night vision. Nico heard Lee Fletcher take a dive as he tripped over the log. They were catching up though, and that spurred Nico to run faster. The whistling was piercing his ears now and as he pushed an arm of shrubbery away, he could see why. He’d found the clearing Percy was in and honestly, the sight was a little pathetic.

Percy seemed to be doing a dance of some sort – jerking his arms and legs around in a rhythmless sprawl, like an adrenaline-high monkey. His face was annoyed and panicked, the whistle clamped tightly in his teeth. Facing him, on the other side of the stream that cut through the woods, was a monstrously amused Jason, whose arms were shaking with the laughter that wracked his whole body. All thoughts of the Apollo cabin pursuing him left Nico’s brain as he jumped into the clearing.

“You had one job, Percy,” he groaned. “ _One job.”_

Percy spat the whistle out of his mouth, letting it bounce against his chest as the string around his neck held it.

“Nico!” he yelled. “Help me!”

“Did the Hecate cabin get you with something?” Nico asked sarcastically.

“ _NO!”_ Percy wailed. His leg kicked in a dodge and suddenly, Nico saw something impact against the stones of the bank. He tried to get a better look, but it had gone. As he paid more attention, he saw bunches of the things flying all around Percy.

“Athena cabin!” the Poseidon kid shouted. “Under fire, you moron! _They have stones!”_

“The great Percy Jackson,” Nico intoned, “defeated by a shower of rocks.”

“ _Nico!”_

Nico waited a second for Percy’s pleas to continue. He liked seeing the other boy squirm. Ever since the blessing/curse Percy had forced on him by giving him Will ‘Romeo’ Solace as his English partner, Nico had gone out of his way to discomfort the Poseidon kid.

But Percy didn’t say anything else. His eyes weren’t even on Nico anymore. He was staring at the edge of the stream, where Nico had briefly seen Jason. Not a beat too late, Nico dropped in a roll, ignoring the stones against his armour. Somebody suddenly impacted exactly where he’d been milliseconds before.

“Rude,” Nico told Jason as he untucked and got to his feet. “In the back, Jason?”

Jason shrugged.

“Hey bro, I love you,” he said, “but when it comes to Capture the Flag, shit gets serious.”

“Yes,” Nico rolled his eyes, “I feel the love here, Grace.”

Jason’s eyes flickered to the undergrowth behind Nico, then back. Nico was about to turn around to see what had attracted his attention but, with a giant war cry, Jason charged him, head first. His fists were raised in what would be a crushing blow. Nico swore loudly as he skipped out of the way. This wasn’t going well.

Jason changed direction, running like the very air was pushing him. Nico had to briefly wonder if Jason had farted. He didn’t get long to think about it. Throwing himself to one side, he narrowly avoided the blows charged his way. His armour grated as it scudded the ground, sending him towards the stream.  

Nico barely managed to curl away from the sudden kick to his middle, arching his stomach to avoid any _really_ painful impact. But Jason’s follow-through attack still caught him, and the meagre force was just enough to push the Hades camper into the stream. Nico gulped in air before he went under completely. His feet thrashed, until they found purchase and he was able to stand. The stream was only knee-deep at this point.

“Bad form,” Nico coughed, hitting himself in the chest to dislodge the water in his throat.

“A kick can win many things,” Jason said, as if he were a bloody philosopher. “And don’t you start quoting Peter Pan to me. It’s not funny.”

An inside joke, when Percy had called Jason Superman, had gotten so far out of hand that Jason had unwittingly adopted the nickname of any fictional character that flew. Nico had contributed Peter Pan. He’d thought it was hilarious. Jason didn’t.

“You just pushed me into a stream,” Nico argued. “You don’t get an opinion.”

Then he launched himself at Jason. Caught off guard, the Zeus camper buckled under Nico’s landing. The black haired boy took advantage of his competition being stunned, quickly pinching the nerve clusters in Jason’s arms and sending them tingling uselessly.

“Percy!” he called, not looking over his shoulder. “You can run now. Jason’s not going anywhere.”

He didn’t get a reply. Nico waited a few seconds before glancing behind him.

Only to see Percy surrounded by a group of Athena campers. Nico didn’t know how he’d missed them coming into the clearing. They must have been in the trees, firing on Percy and then when Jason went down, they climbed out.

If Nico got up to help, Jason would probably escape. So, instead, he ground his bony bum into the nerves in Jason’s thigh. Jason groaned as Nico stood up.

“Not cool,” he told the Hades kid. “Not cool at all, Nico. I thought we were bros.”

“When it comes to Capture the Flag,” Nico mimicked, “shit gets serious.”

Then he started running for the group surrounding Percy. He could see his friend fighting off the campers around him, but he was woefully outnumbered.

Nico dove for his teammate, arms outstretched and ready to pull any Athena boys off Percy.

But then something exploded across the back of his head, just hard enough to knock him out.

* * *

 

It can’t have been more than five minutes later that Nico was blinking stupidly up at the moonlight, his back slumped against something hard. He took it like a man though, not uttering a single groan as his sore head brushed the thing behind him.

“Are you okay, Nico? You’re not dead, right? Tell me you’re not dead.”

Nico scowled. So much for manliness. It seems he had made a noise.

“Not… dead,” he grunted, shifting around and getting a feeling for his position. “Just… uncomfortable.”

The sympathetic face of Will Solace appeared in the silver night light before him. Nico cursed swiftly in his mind. It wasn’t fair that Will looked good under the sun _and_ the moon. Just, unfair. And rude. Who did he think he was, with his surfer good-looks and curly, soft blond hair? Nico wanted to touch that hair… gah! Side-tracked again!

“I’m sorry,” Will winced. “It’s your own fault, you know.”

Nico flexed his fingers.

“What did I do to warrant being tied to a tree?”

Will shrugged.

“You and your night-ninja ass do too well in this game for your own good,” he said, a twinkling smile twitching his lips. Nico blinked as starlight lit up the blond’s pearly teeth.

“Put those away, before you blind someone,” he ordered. Will grinned wider.

“Like what you see, di Angelo?” he teased. Nico was appalled when he realised he couldn’t use his hands to cover his face. Seated on the forest-edge floor like this, trapped and bound, was one thing. Torture-for-information-via-Will-Solace was a complete different area. In Nico’s case, the information his kidnapper wanted, was whether he found him attractive. It was just such _Nico_ luck that he groaned.

Will looked hurt, and he put a hand to his chest.

“Am I really that disgusting?” he whispered. Nico waded out of his pool of self-pity and lunged for the metaphorical shore. This left his tongue, sadly, completely unguarded.

“No!” he yelled hurriedly. “No, you’re not disgusting.”

Another moment passed where Nico wished he has access to his hands. If only to stop himself from talking. He was a public menace.

“Oh my gods,” he muttered, hanging his head. “Just put me out of my misery now, please.”

Will grinned, even if Nico didn’t see it, and the white moonlight paled his otherwise pink cheeks.

“What am I if I’m not disgusting?” Will asked slyly. Nico thumped against the tree at his back.

“Whatever you hit me with,” he ground out, “get it, and hit me again.”

“Why would I do that?” Will asked. Nico gritted his teeth as he fought the blush rising to his face.

“If you won’t, I will,” he declared, and whacked his head on the bark. Lint bits of tree stuck to his hair and Nico didn’t care that what he was doing was the height of dumb-assery. He just wanted an out from the situation his traitorous mouth had gotten him into.

“Woah, Nico. Nico!”

And suddenly there wasn’t a tree, but a soft palm cupping the back of his head. He could feel cool fingers pressing the slivers of bark against his skin and then everything went into hyper-aware state as he realised that _Will Solace was holding him up_ and was this an appropriate time to freak out? Nico decided it was.

But before he flipped his shit and almost burst out his love for his wayward, awkward Romeo, the very same antagonist of his thoughts started stroking his hair and Nico’s remaining cranial power blinked out faster than a dead bulb.

“Don’t kill your brain cells!” Will scolded worriedly. “There isn’t enough of them as is!”

“Oh, hah hah,” Nico retorted, trying to pretend he wasn’t at all mentally affected by the warm skin brushing his neck and that it was all the tree-bashing he’d done.

“You’re a crazy nut, Nico di Angelo,” Will told him seriously.

“Pity for you if you expected anything different,” Nico smiled. He saw Will’s face light up like a meteor at the sight, and surmised he was hopelessly devoted to a complete and utter dork.

So that was how they spent that particular night in the woods, ignoring the yelling of their Capture the Flag teammates, and barely noticing as blue-plumed campers struck the red flag sentry and ran away with their prize, yelling obscenities and slapping their butts in triumph.

Both were content with their corner of the clearing and the mindless conversations they had, dismissing the rivalry between their friends and ‘fraternising with the enemy,’ as Percy later put it to Nico.

Grudgingly, and to himself, the Hades camper admitted that it was almost as if he and Will were meant to be Romeo and Juliet. That individual Capture the Flag game made it seem less like a school play, and more like real life.


	9. Nico Follows a Sunbeam

**Chapter 9:**

**Nico Follows a Sunbeam**

Nico was annoyed, but not really surprised, when he woke up Sunday morning and his shoulder muscles felt like they were slowly being boiled in oil and then set on fire. Regardless of his way-above-average ability with most combat weapons and subsequent strength, Nico was sorely lacking in the tied-to-a-tree-for-the-night training area, and was therefore suffering the consequences of the Apollo cabin’s knot work.

He was going to complain to Will that next time he was kidnapped, he’d demand looser restraint.

And then he thought of Will, and Nico felt his stomach tingle and his cheeks burn.

They’d had a long conversation last night – ignoring the tree bit. Nico rubbed the back of his head, feeling the tender skin sting. But he remembered who else had rubbed his hair in that spot and reflexively dumped his face in his pillow. He was pathetic. One sunny-golden smile and curly yellow locks and he was a goner. Not to mention the blue-blue- _blue_ eyes and freckles.

Nico hit his pillow again. He was patheticer than pathetic. And he didn’t care if that wasn’t a word.

After wallowing in a pool of self-pity and a conflicting emotional battle on how much he hated Will Solace and his gorgeousness, Nico decided to get up. He emerged from his bed like a zombie climbing out of a grave, hair in a black tangle, overlarge shirt slipping down one shoulder and Batman boxers creased. Nico rubbed his eyes with one hand, yawning. Getting up was hard.

Across the cabin there was a sudden noise, and the Hades camper watched dazedly as a beam of white light erupted from the cursed instrument known as Nico di Angelo’s mobile phone.

Nico groaned loudly before hauling himself across the room towards the device, looking with bleary eyes down at the flashing notification that was telling him he had a text. Nico dragged his finger along the screen and opened the message.

_So I was thinking midday practice. Is that okay with you?  
\- Will_

Another ding interrupted Nico’s carefully thought-out reply of _Mmhm._

_If you’re awake by midday, that is._

Nico scowled at the words before looking at the time.

11: 49.

_Well, I hope you’re awake because I’m outside your door._

Nico looked up from the newest text to hear a knock on his cabin. He quickly dropped the phone onto the desk where it sitting, and flew across the room, rapidly pulling on a pair of black skinny jeans that were hanging out of his pants drawer. He didn’t bother with his hair. He wouldn’t have the time.

Calmly jumping for the doorknob, Nico pulled on the handle, and his retinas were instantly burned by a cruel attack of sunlight that sent him toppling backwards ungracefully.

“I know I’m hot, but you don’t have to break yourself leaping away from my hotness,” Will Solace said as he walked into the shadowy Hades cabin. Nico hissed from where he was on the floor, struggling to his feet. His shoulders were burning worse than his eyes.

“Woah, are you okay?”

Nico glanced up to see Will looking down at him, concern on his face. Nico’s muscles gave out again as he tried to push himself backwards and stand.

“Next time you tie someone to a tree for an indefinite amount of time, give them a massage first,” he growled. “Fucking hurts after a while, you know.”

Will bit his lip and bent down, gently putting his hands on Nico’s biceps and lifting him to his proper height, letting his feet touch the floor.

“I thought you did a lot of training,” he said. Nico scowled.

“I don’t train being kidnapped, Solace.”

Will looked sheepish and he scratched the back of his head. Nico wasn’t impressed.

“I can rub them down, if you like,” the Apollo counsellor offered. “I’m the head medic, you know, and we have some coconut oil in the infirmary-”

“No,” Nico cut him off, turning towards his wardrobe and pulling out a t-shirt, “it’s okay.”

He looked over his shoulder at Will and held up the shirt.

“I’m just going to get this on and grab my play. Then we can head out, okay?”

Then he grabbed the hem of his pyjama pullover and practically ripped it off.

Nico was facing the wall and preparing to dress himself, so he didn’t see the ruby red blush explode on Will’s cheeks and his jaw drop open.

“Uh… Nico- I think, um, I might… ah… wait for you outside. Yeah.”

Nico’s eyes flickered over his arms to see Will hurriedly leaving the cabin, ducking through the doorway and slipping off to the side. He blinked.

“O-Okay?” he replied, though Will was obviously not within hearing distance. Nico yanked his shirt over his head and evened it out, combing his fingers through his sleep-ruffled hair and thinking. What was that about? Nico’s hand went to the small of his back, where a decent-sized white scar sat thanks to a particularly nasty game of Capture and Flag and not being on the same team as Ares. Was that what freaked Will out? He was a medic after all. Maybe he had an issue with not-completely-healed wounds.

Nico shrugged. Tough shit.

He left the Hades cabin, pocketing his phone – he wanted more pictures of Will – and _Romeo and Juliet,_ before looking around. The porch was completely deserted. Will wasn’t outside.

Nico stepped down, looking around and frowning. He was sure Will had gone right, so he went that way too. Maybe the blond forgot his play? Nico started towards the Apollo cabin, just down from his own. His head swung from side to side, looking for a familiar streak of sunlight-yellow hair and sky-blue eyes. Then he mentally face-palmed. Sunlight-yellow hair and sky-blue eyes? His infatuation with Will was obviously taking a dangerous turn into something that was _worse_ than infatuation. Much worse.

“Lee! Come on, man. You need to help me!”

Nico froze at the sound of Will’s voice. He wasn’t sure what told him to duck behind a nearby cabin wall, but he did, sliding silently along it and blending with the shadows. Then he peeked his head around the corner.

Will was hanging off Lee Fletcher’s arm, giant puppy-dog eyes in action. He looked desperate.

Lee was standing impassively, staring in the opposite direction and trying to cross his arms with Will still using one as a perch. His face was stony.

“Why don’t you go bug Michael,” the shorter boy snapped, glaring at Will. Will readjusted his grip and Lee swayed with the effort of staying standing.

“Michael’s out,” Will answered. “Please, Lee! He’ll be out any second.”

Nico got the general impression that he was the one they were talking about. Something about Lee’s reluctance to help made him certain.

“What. Happened,” the Apollo boy ground out, and Will breathed in relief.

“He took his shirt off, Lee,” he almost whimpered, a blush on his face. “Right in front of me in the cabin! Oh my gods, his _back muscles…”_

Lee growled and tried to shake his pseudo-sibling.

“Don’t drool over that midget on me!” he yelled. “You got yourself into this Solace, you get yourself out. Go over to Lupa’s and preach to McLean and the Venus cabin, I don’t want to hear this. I’m still mad at you for last night.”

Nico pressed himself further into the wall. Back muscles?

“What did I do?!” Will said indignantly. Lee shoved his friend off him and Will hit the ground with a jarring bump.

“If you weren’t so busy flirting the blue team wouldn’t have gotten our flag,” the smaller boy seethed.

“ _That’s_ why you’re mad,” Will exclaimed. “Jeez man, that’s kind of sad. And-” Then what Lee said seemed to sink in and Will covered his face with his hands, his cheeks flushing.

“Yes Will, it was that obvious,” Lee told him. “You need some help, because I cannot and will not assist in your di Angelitis case. Just mack the kid already.”

And then he turned toe, kicked up a cloud of dust, and stalked off, leaving a groaning and embarrassed Will and a heavily breathing, barely believing Nico di Angelo, who’d heard the whole thing and wasn’t yet ready to accept it.

Back muscles. He had back muscles.

And apparently Will Solace liked them.


	10. Will Gets Poisoned

Will knew a strategic exit was in order the moment Nico’s shirt came off. It just _wasn’t fair._ The smaller boy had no idea what even the tiniest tuft of his unruly black _hair_ did to Will. Pulling his clothes off willy-nilly with the Apollo boy around was just pure, undiluted torture for him.

And _gods,_ that back. All smooth and rippling with muscles from sword training, with the odd scar from Capture the Flag but otherwise unmarred. It looked like a weaved work of the gods. Something for him to admire but not touch.

Athena and Arachne could go home because Nico’s back was a tapestry art no one could out do.

And this all needed to be vented quite heavily, because if Will didn’t complain to _someone_ how unfair Nico’s beautiful existence was he’d explode his feelings right over the object of his affections and wouldn’t that be messy to clean up?

Lee was no help. Will sighed and got to his feet, dusting the dirt off his jeans and looking longingly at the Hades cabin. Somewhere in there was a person who had no idea he was the sun and the stars to Will and carrying that around was starting to get a little heavy in his chest. But he had a practice to get to, and Will didn’t even know if Nico, well… swung that way.

His play was hanging out of his pocket still. Will grabbed it and flipped to the tag that marked the final interaction involving Romeo and Juliet – the death scene. He started back to the Hades cabin to apologise to Nico. He’d say he’d forgotten his play.

* * *

 

Nico was sitting on his bed when Will re-arrived, and he looked on the verge of a philosophical breakthrough he was concentrating so hard.

“Alright there?” Will asked, leaning against the door frame. Nico jumped, his eyes darting up to meet the Apollo camper’s. His cheeks flushed bright pink.

“F-Fine,” he replied, fumbling over his words. Will raised his eyebrows. Nico frowned.

“Dizzy from getting up so early,” he said, standing up. He looked at Will critically. The blond sheepishly held up his play.

“Forgot it,” he offered, and was glad when Nico seemingly dismissed the whole disappearing thing and started to wander off outside. Of course, now it was Will’s turn not to see the heavy blush painted all over the pale boy’s face and the cogs going to work in his brain.

“So I was thinking under the tree,” Will said as they passed the last of the cabins, their feet automatically taking them to the spot where they’d met while individually practicing. Nico nodded, his fingers fidgeting in his pockets, his play tucked under his arm. Will had to physically hold his own hand to stop himself reaching out and pinning back a stray fringe of hair hanging beside Nico’s ear.

“You read my mind,” Nico said, smiling shyly. Will looked away, covering his mouth. It was neither healthy nor okay for Nico to be this cute _all the time._

“This scene’s the last one we have to go over,” Will interrupted his own thoughts, thumbing the pages mindlessly. “Juliet’s in her pseudo-death state, Romeo’s suicidal and Paris had just been killed. You ready?”

Nico nodded and sat down, leaning back until he was lying on the ground. Will swallowed, biting his lip.

“What’re you doing?” he squeaked, almost dropping his book. Nico stared at the tree next to him instead of making eye contact.

“Juliet’s dead, isn’t she?” he asked rhetorically. “So it makes sense for me to pretend.”

“R-Right,” Will replied dumbly. Why he didn’t think of that before, he wasn’t sure.

“Besides,” Nico continued, rolling his arms, “this hurts my shoulders less.”

He opened his play and lifted it up so he could see it.

“Okay, go.”

Will dragged his eyes away from the milk-white skin shining in the sunlight at his feet, and focused on the play. He could do this. He just had to walk around Nico and swoon in grief.

Will took one step and his legs wobbled.

Maybe he should kneel.

Will crouched down and bent his knees into the dirt until he could curl in on himself and ‘weep’ over Nico. He held his play in front of him.

“Ah, dear Juliet,” he whispered. “Why art thou yet so fair?”

The opportunity to caress Nico’s cheek – even if he was playing Juliet for Will’s Romeo – presented itself and Will caved, his tanned hand gently touching the abnormally cold, pale skin of the Hades camper’s face.

“Will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh.

“Eyes, look your last!”

Will watched as Nico’s eyes fluttered open a tiny bit to watch.

“Arms, take your last embrace!”

He gripped the side of Nico’s neck softly.

“And, lips,” he leaned down, “oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss.”

Will could feel the air from Nico’s mouth blow over his chin, and he shivered. Should he? He was so close it almost snapped his sanity. Shakespeare demanded he act…

“A-A dateless bargain,” he stuttered as he pulled away, “to engrossing death. Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark.”

Will moved his hands from Nico’s neck, feeling his nerves already starting to miss the chill. Instead, he clasped the black haired boy’s unmoving fingers and brought them to his lips.

“Here’s to my love.”

A kiss was a kiss, be it on Nico’s hand or his mouth, and wherever it was, Will was sure he’d feel exactly like someone had just poisoned him. The symptoms were the same: an accelerated heart rate and pulse; snapping nerves; shortness of breath; flushed skin; muddled thoughts; frozen muscles.

Will didn’t even have to pretend to know how Romeo felt then.

“Thy drugs are quick,” he murmured, lowering his head. “Thus with a kiss, I die.”

If a brush of his lips on Nico’s hand had done this much, exactly how addicted was Will to poison?

“That was one Hades of a performance, Will.”

The pseudo-Romeo’s eyes snapped open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then Satan said, 'let there be cliffhangers'


	11. Nico Touches the Sun

Nico already had Percy Jackson on his shit-list for partnering him with Will. Now Percy occupied the top three spots, with Jason Grace taking up four through to eight.

Percy’s smirk as he watched Will almost throw himself away made Nico want to get up and punch him. Jason had an equally devious look on his face.

“No, no,” the Zeus camper said, holding up his hands, “don’t stop on our account.”

“It was just getting good!” Percy added. Nico sat up, his eyes narrowing to glare daggers and death at his two best friends/rivals. Will’s face was flushed a deep red as he slowly got to his feet. Nico had to wonder if there was any blood left in his body that wasn’t pooling at his cheeks.

“It’s almost like watching a _real romance,”_ Jason hinted not-so-subtly. Nico gathered his feet under him, careful to hide the absolute flaming promise of murder in his eyes behind his black fringe.

“P-Percy!” Will squeaked. “Jason!  W-What’re you doing here!?”

Percy scuffed the ground, grinning.

“Walking,” he replied.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “Just trying to find our little bro Nic-”

Nico looked up at him and Jason choked on his words. The colour drained out of Percy’s face like water from a bath, and his partner in crime went the same shade as milk.

The fury in the Hades’ camper’s eyes was enough to send the biggest and baddest guy from Ares running for his Mama. Percy and Jason may be the most _known_ at Chiron’s for their talent, but secretly Nico surpassed them both. He might not be openly able, but even the newest kids looking to pick a fight bypassed him, and the oldest did their best to keep him from blowing his top.

The two taller boys had pretty much done a whole gymnastics routine over Nico’s tolerance line. They were probably going to die any second now.

“Percy,” Nico said, his voice cold and quiet, “how fond are you of your ribs?”

Percy gulped, putting a hand on his chest.

“P-Pretty attached,” he said. Jason elbowed him hard.

“Do you want to die with that kind of pun as your last words?” he hissed. Percy went even paler.

“I’m sorry, Nico!” he suddenly yelled, falling to his knees and praying. “Please don’t kill me!”

“What am I!?” Jason yelped. “Chop liver?!

“We can arrange that, if you like,” Nico told him haughtily. Jason joined Percy in begging for his life. Will seemed to be watching all this in fascination, and maybe a little bit of awe. Nico curled the smile threatening his features into a scowl. He waved his hand at the two idiots on the ground.

“I’ll see you in the arena,” he said. “Sword practice at two, okay?”

They jerked up, tentative smiles on their faces.

“Yeah?” Jason asked, starting to bounce on his knees. Percy high-fived himself in a dramatic around-the-world loop before rolling along the ground to his feet again. He clenched his fists and started jumping excitedly.

“You promise, Nico?” he egged. “You’ll really come?”

Nico nodded like he was in pain, and sighed. Jason and Percy whooped, then turned to look at each other. Competition blossomed as they locked gazes, and then they both took off at top speed, yelling the whole time. It was quiet around Nico and Will before the Apollo camper cleared his throat.

“Uh, what was that?”

Nico blew his cheeks out and rubbed his face.

“Jason-literal-puppy-Grace and Percy-actual-six-year-old-Jackson,” he said. “They’re probably annoyed that I didn’t come to practice with them this morning because I was doing the play with you.”

Nico didn’t miss the pink flush that appeared on Will’s face.

“They usually bug me to train with them,” he offered. “I’m…” he swallow, feeling his own cheeks heat up, “…sorry you got caught in that.”

Will dusted himself off as he got up, another generous smile coming on to blind Nico with.

“Anyways,” the blond boy said, snatching their fallen plays from the ground, “that was a good practice.”

“I was dead,” Nico said blandly. Will laughed at him, handing his book back.

“You made a very good dead person then,” he complimented. “Seriously di Angelo, your skin is really cold like, all the time.”

Nico breathed in deeply as the words rang in his ears. He’d heard people flirting before, but he’d never tried it himself. He was pretty sure there was supposed to be some kind of innuendo in there, but he didn’t want to say anything like that. _Cold skin, Nico, cold skin. What’s a good hint that goes with cold skin?_

He took another gulp of air.

“Well,” he replied quietly, taking his hands out of his pockets, “maybe you could help me get warm?”

His face flamed red as soon as he said it, but he left his hand hanging in space, waiting for Will to take it or push it away. A seed of panic started weeding in Nico’s chest – what if he’d been wrong? Maybe Will wasn’t talking about him before. Oh my gods he was such an idiot!

Fingers that were almost as hot as boiling water slipped into Nico’s, sending his nerves tingling like they did whenever he had a warm shower in the winter. The cuffs of Will’s yellow sweater brushed his palm.

“It’s not healthy for your skin to be this cold, Nico!” Will scolded, tapping the back of Nico’s hand with his index finger. Shots of heat sent burning signals down the Hades’ camper’s arm.

“I prescribe regular handholding.” He seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment from earlier. Nico turned his head so his smile wasn’t obvious. “Every day. Whenever I’m around. Consistently.”

Nico pulled his hoodie’s collar up and closed his eyes. He’d taken the initiative this time – just this once he’d put his heart on the line. Maybe he was fired up from Percy and Jason’s idiocy. Maybe there was some kind of dragonous courage when it came to romance hiding in his ribcage that had decided to take a spin for once.

Handholding was one thing though. Juliet had done her part. The next step was up to Romeo.

 


	12. Will Sees an Expert

There were several somethings about Nico di Angelo’s hand that Will liked. It was just as cold as it looked, and wherever the sunlight touched was like white lightning rolling across his skin. It was sort of smaller than Will’s own, with slender fingers. The knuckles were usually bruised, and the callouses scattered all over it just gave Will a sense of safety.

And it seemed to have its own sense of contentment, settled in Will’s grip.

He’d always wondered what it might be like to stroll with Nico, hand in hand. Truth be told, every time Will had imagined the weekend they were going to the city together, he saw them holding hands. He was just never sure how to initiate it. Or too nervous. But Nico had done it by himself and just… wow it was nice.

“Will I have to get a note, Dr Solace?” Nico asked suddenly. Will glanced at him to see a small smirk on his face.

“A note?” Will repeated. Nico’s eyes flashed down to their conjoined hands.

“If I have prescribed handholding from my doctor,” he said, and Will was not wrong in thinking his cheeks were a tiny bit pink, “I might need a note.”

Will raised his eyebrows and snorted. He squeezed Nico’s fingers.

“Well, seeing as your doctor is present, I can attest to your claims personally.”

“Those are some big words, Solace,” Nico warned smarmily.

“Not as big as some of those Shakespeare ones,” Will huffed. “I mean, I don’t even understand any of it!”

Nico looked up at him, and Will was caught by the other boy’s long black lashes. This thing for Nico was getting out of control. He couldn’t even call it a crush anymore because it just didn’t manage to encompass how he felt, exactly.

“So you’ve been performing Romeo with perfect delivery, but you don’t know what you’re saying,” surmised Nico. Will blinked.

“Did you just say I had perfect delivery?” he asked. Nico looked affronted.

“Is that all you heard?”

“No.”

Nico eyed him doubtfully before facing front again, headed for the dining pavilion. It was definitely past lunch time, but the buffet would still be open seeing as it was the weekend. When the two reached the columns of the eating area and rounded the corner, Will was relieved to see no one else in there. He was especially glad Percy and Jason were absent, because that might have been awkward. Will glanced down at his and Nico’s hands. Cute.

Will and Nico approached the buffet bar, and Will grabbed two plates, handing one to Nico. His lips twitched in a small smile at that as he lay his plate on the bench in front of the steaming piles of food and started spooning some potato bake onto it. Will did the same with strips of brisket. They kept their hands joined the whole time.

By unspoken decision they sat at the Hades table. Normally, the boys weren’t allowed to sit anywhere besides their cabins eating spot, but since no one else was there, Will wasn’t bothered with it. He took the seat beside Nico, suddenly very thankful for all the times in the infirmary where he had to use his left hand only. Picking up his fork, Will stabbed a length of brisket and started eating it. Nico pushed his potato’s around before selecting a bit of bacon. Will watched curiously.

“Hey, Nico?”

Nico looked up, still chewing.

“Yeah?”

Will looked down at his own plate, coaxing some more food onto his fork. “We’ve done all the parts of the play we need to,” he pointed out, “so we gotta pick a scene to do. Any ideas?”

Nico swallowed before saying, “I like last one.”

Will nodded.

“Me too.” He waved his cutlery around. “All dramatic and stuff.”

Nico raised an eyebrow.

“It’ll look good!” Will defended. They kept eating in silence for a bit, Will thinking about his and Nico’s assessment for Romeo and Juliet. The death scene was a good idea… maybe they could do it in the forest clearing they’d practiced in early on. There were some logs in there Nico could use as his open tomb.

And suddenly the image of Nico di Angelo lying down in a lily-white dress with a crown of colourless flowers braided into his hair and his pale hands holding a posse of black roses erupted in Will’s head. He was so surprised he dropped his fork, brisket piece hitting the plate with a smack. Staring off into the distance, Will’s face turned a dark shade of red and he covered most of it with a hand over his mouth. _Oh my gods._

Will was too far gone to be saved now. His brain supplied a version of himself, wearing leggings and tunic with a sword strapped to his waist and a vial in his hand. Dream-Will bent over the catatonic Nico, fingers brushing the black hair out of his closed eyes.

Will hit the table with his hands. Nico jumped and stared at him.

“Will?” he said. Will looked down at him, his gaze intense enough to make Nico move back a little.

“I have to talk to Jason.”

Abandoning his lunch and all but running out of the pavilion, Will’s mind went off on a line trying to think of places one Jason Grace might be. The answer was of course wherever Perseus Jackson was, and the answer to that was going to be the most dangerous place in camp doing the stupidest thing they could.

Will set off at a run for Zeus’ Fist. He realised dimly that he’d been doing a lot of dramatic running from Nico. He couldn’t be helped.

* * *

 

Jason and Percy were indeed at Zeus’ Fist doing something stupid. At least from Will’s point of view it looked stupid.

“You know there’s a huge hole around here somewhere, right?” he called as he entered the clearing. “And if you fall into it you won’t be seen again.”

“Can it, Solace,” Percy grunted as Jason stepped on his face in the act of trying to climb up a particularly large boulder. Percy smacked his lips and made a face. “Jason, your sneaker tastes nasty.”

“Well don’t lick it, dude,” Jason retorted, leaning over to help Percy up. The black haired teen snorted.

“Well don’t put it in my mouth, bro,” he parroted. Settling back against the warm rock, he elbowed Jason. Will raised his eyebrows.

“Still here,” he called. Jason smiled at him.

“What’s up, Will?” he asked, poking his head over the top of the rocks to see the Apollo boy. Will was suddenly nervous.

“I was wondering if I could talk to you,” he said. Gesturing with his hands, he made a line-up motion. “And then by talking to you I could get in touch with Piper and maybe Annabeth, too.”

The two shared looks that set Will’s teeth on edge – smirking evil grins that made the blond healer paranoid enough to take a few steps back. Jason and Percy stood up on the huge rock, bending their knees and looking like they were about to –

“ _Shit!”_ Will yelped, and he waved his hands madly. “No! Guys! Don’t jump that’s the stupidest thing- _you’re ten meters up!”_

Percy looked at Jason.

“Ready to fly, Grace?” he challenged.

“I was ready before you even asked, Jackson,” Jason replied. They fist-bumped and then looked down again at Will.

“We have a medic on hand and are ready for lift off,” Percy intoned. “On three.

“Three!”

The two of them jumped in sync, their knees bending and arms flying. Will braced himself for their inevitable, painful impact, and resigned himself to dragging the two morons to the infirmary and spending the afternoon treating broken legs and twisted ankles.

There was a huge _thump_ and Will sighed in extreme exasperation. He shouldn’t have even bothered being nervous around these two earlier – they’d embarrass themselves trying to embarrass him.

“So little faith,” a voice suddenly said. Will stopped massaging his temples and opened his eyes to see Jason and Percy standing at his sides, grinning. They were still on both feet and there didn’t seem to be any sense of pain in their expressions. They were just covered in dirt.

“For Hades’ sake,” Will cursed. “Don’t _do_ that.” Percy wiggled his eyebrows.

“Speaking of Hades,” he said, “does your visit have anything to do with a certain Hades camper say, oh, I dunno – he has black hair and black eyes and can scare the pants of you-”

“I don’t think Will would mind if Nico scared his pants off,” Jason added slyly. Will scowled as a hearty blush turned his ears and neck red.

“N-No!” he objected. “I just need a liaison to get in touch with Piper,” He looked at Jason. “She’s your girlfriend. I was hoping you’d be able to get me into Lupa’s to talk to her.”

Percy scratched his head. “You wanted Annabeth too, right?”

“I’m sure she’d be there anyway,” Will said. “Her and Piper are pretty close.”

Jason slapped Will’s back happily.

“We can go right now!” he said cheerily.

“Ah-h hang on,” Will interjected, “I just gotta ask first – do you know if we have to have, like, a _costume_ for this Romeo and Juliet thing?”

Percy nodded, his grin stretching.

“Me and Jason-”

“Jason and I,” Jason corrected. Percy waved him off.

“Whatever. We have ours. Jason looks really good in the leggings.”

“You do, too, Perce. You have the right figure for it,” Jason told him. They fist-bumped again.

“I am literally the straightest person here,” Will muttered. Percy slung an arm around his shoulders.

“We’re off to see the girlfriends!” he sang. “The wonderful girlfriends of ours!”

* * *

 

Jason and Percy signed into the visitor’s book at Lupa’s College, or, Camp Jupiter, at the administration centre. The lady behind the desk asked who they were after.

“Annabeth Chase and Piper McLean,” Jason answered. The secretary looked at them curiously. Percy pulled Will forward.

“We need some of Miss McLean’s love advice,” he added, to Will’s horror. Then, in a stage whisper, Percy pointed at the blushing Apollo camper and said, “Boy troubles.”

The woman behind the desk gave a small giggle and handed them lanyards with the words VISITOR printed in black letters. Will hung it around his neck, glowering at Percy.

“You have to leave by two o’clock,” she told them, “because the girls have to set up for the War Games at two-thirty.”

“Cool,” Jason said. “We have a sword practice scheduled for then anyway, so that works.”

The lady waved them through. “Good luck!”

Will hid his face in his sweater. For comfort reasons, he’d grabbed the over-sized one Nico had given him on Friday night. It was nice and warm. It still smelt like him. Will smiled.

It didn’t take long to find Annabeth and Piper. Percy had called his girlfriend (“Paging Annabeth Chase, it’s your boyfriend here”) and they were meeting on the Fields of Mars for a walk around the Terminus Boundary Line. That, Jason surmised, would be long enough for Piper to sort Will out.

Of course, the reunion began with kisses and nicknames. As the fifth wheel, Will watched all this with a sort of fascinated jealousy. He wanted to see Nico on arrival and be able to peck his cheek or hold him.

“Oh, Solace,” someone sighed, “you do have it bad.”

Will jerked out of his thoughts to see Piper McLean watching him. She was a very beautiful girl, with small braids in her choppy hair and soft brown skin. Will wasn’t sure what colour her eyes were – they changed every time he looked. He smiled.

“Hi, Piper,” he said wearily. “You can tell that easy, huh?”

“It’s not hard,” a second person said, coming up beside Piper. Annabeth’s curly blond hair, grey eyes and tanned skin had always given Will a distinct feel of comradery – she’d fit into the Apollo cabin rather well. The two girls gave Will a short hug of greeting, Annabeth’s slightly longer than Piper’s. They had known each other longer, and Will had once managed to heal a rather nasty wound Annabeth had gotten in a tournament fight after the medical cabin at Lupa’s couldn’t.

“Of course you’d be able to tell,” he said to the blond girl. She grinned.

“Good to see you, Will.”

Piper touched his arm. She then grabbed Jason and tugged him along. The group started walking.

“Now, tell me,” she said. “Who is it and what’s wrong?”

So Will told her. He told her everything. About how he and Nico ended up as partners for their Romeo and Juliet play in English – did Percy look smug or was that just his imagination? – and how he and Nico had started getting along rather well. He went off on a long spiel about the other boy (“He has really wonderful eyes, Piper, but he’s not just a pretty face. He’s a lot nicer than he gives himself credit for and he’s so clever and he can act really well; he’s _just so cute-_ ”) and finished up with his (really smooth) order of constant hand-holding. Piper was particularly interested in that.

“And you say _Nico_ initiated it?” she asked again. Will nodded. Annabeth, Jason and Percy were listening quietly behind them. Piper nodded appreciatively, a small smile on her face. She looked back at Annabeth and said something rapidly in French. Jason, Percy and Will blinked in unison. The two girls cracked grins.

“Well, Will,” Piper finally said, “it sounds like you have it even worse than I thought.”

“Infatuation!” Percy trilled. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him.

“Can you even spell infatuation, Seaweed Brain?” she challenged. Percy scuffed the ground and muttered something. Will glanced back at Piper.

“You don’t say,” he replied. Piper looped her arm around Will and called over her shoulder.

“Annabeth, can you, Jason and Percy just wait a moment?” She looked back at Will. “I think there’s some things Will wants to say privately.”

Jason nodded encouragingly, smiling. Will was glad he had the Boyfriends Seal of Approval. He wouldn’t try to hit on Piper anyway, but it was nice of Jason to not get all up in his grill. Piper led him a little away.

“Will,” she started, “to me, it sounds like Nico is rather interested in you too.

“I mean, I only have your point of view on this and I only have an insight on your feelings, but from what I’m hearing, Nico’s not exactly shying away. I’m pretty sure – no, wait, I’m _positive_ that your crush is mutual.”

Will’s jaw trembled as he grinned, his smile wider than a split banana. Electricity crackled up his spine and he felt his ribs beat against his skin as his heart rate accelerated. Nico liked him back. _Nico liked him back._ And he didn’t like Percy. Will could have sung his glee to the heavens.

“Piper,” he breathed, “if Jason weren’t six feet away I’d kiss you.”

Piper laughed.

“Now,” she continued, “I happen to know the other thing you’d like to ask, and the answer is that I’ll send them over with Jason next weekend. Is that okay?”

Emotion built up in Will’s chest and he almost crushed Piper in a hug, planting a happy brotherly kiss on her cheek, completely forgetting Jason in his euphoria.

“Thank you, Piper!” he cheered. “I didn’t know if you’d even be able to get them.”

“I lent Jason and Percy theirs,” she said, her voice gleeful. “Dad’s got a whole prop room full of that kind of stuff from a past film.”

Will thought back to the beautiful image he’d conjured up before of Nico in a silk-white dress and flowers. He’d get to wear it in real life now.

Will just hoped he wasn’t disembowelled for it.


	13. Nico Gets a Note and a Dress

Will was acting weird. Nico wasn’t stupid, he knew something was happening. The whole duration of his sword practice with Jason and Percy he was distracted, thinking about how Will had just run out of the lunch pavilion. Of course he still flattened the other two boys, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Will had infirmary duty for the rest of the day, so after a few hours dodging blades in the arena, Nico excused himself and went to his cabin. He had some math homework he still hadn’t done from Friday. This English thing was taking up a lot of his time. Not that that was bad.

His class was scheduled to do their performances on the coming Friday. Seeing as it was Monday, Will and Nico still had the rest of the week to memorise and learn their scene. It was long enough, if they read over it often.

Pacing the Hades cabin with his play in front of him, Nico started learning his lines from the moment Juliet awakes in the tomb.

“Where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, and there I am. Where is my Romeo?”

He repeated that line over and over until it was ingrained in his brain.

Nico was quickly bored. It wasn’t as fun by himself. He wasn’t motivated enough to learn the rest. He had a whole week; he didn’t need to do it now. Ducking his head out the cabin door to check no one was there he quickly set up his docking station, slotting his iPod onto it and skipping songs until he found the one he wanted.

“ _It’s okay, cause I know you shine even on a rainy day...”_

He started thinking about Will and what he’d said a few days ago. A small smile wormed its way onto his face. For the first time, Bianca wasn’t what was on his mind as he listened.

* * *

 

He woke up some time later, limp as a slug and just as slow. He didn’t even bother trying to check what hour it was on his phone. He just groaned into his pillow.

Something crinkled under his cheek.

Nico sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes. He flicked the lamp switch beside his bed, wincing his eyes closed as he did. Goddam light was just- ow.

Turning away from the brightness, Nico searched for what had made the noise. He found a piece of paper on the side of his bed, just on the mattress where he’d been sleeping. Unfolding it slowly, Nico squinted at the words on it.

 _Hey Death Boy,_ it began.

 _I got worried when you missed dinner –_ he’d missed dinner? – _so I came in to check up on you, and you were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you up, so I brought you some food. It’s on the desk._

Nico looked over to see another little pile of potato bake – cold, mind, but it’s not like that mattered. He felt a flutter in his stomach and the corner of his lips lifted.

_I think that’s it. The rest can wait until English class tomorrow. See ya, di Angelo. Sleep well._

_Love,_

_Will._

Nico caught himself running his fingers over the paper, Will’s spidery handwriting exactly the same as it had been on the card in class. _Sleep well._

Warmth filled Nico’s stomach and he rolled over, clutching the note as he fell asleep again.

* * *

 

The curse of going to bed at five in the evening was that you were bound to wake up at stupid-o’clock the following morning. That’s exactly what happened to Nico, and he was none too pleased about it. He shoulders still hurt, but they were giving him more of a dull ache that could probably be massaged out or something. Nico growled at the world as he rolled out of bed, socked feet touching the stone cold floor of his cabin.

He finally checked the time. His phone told him, in thick white block letters, that it was four-forty-five in the morning. Thanks to his previous night wanderings, Nico knew the Harpies would be off patrol in fifteen minutes. He could shower and then go outside.

Stripping and dumping the clothes into his hamper – he’d been wearing them since yesterday; nice – Nico turned on the taps. The water hit him in the face like a high-pressure pipe and he coughed as some of it went up his nose.

“I did not sign up for this,” he said grumpily, slapping shampoo through his hair.

Five minutes later he was washed, his hair was clean and smelled like pomegranates, and he was wrapping a towel around his waist before going in search of something to wear.

 _Monday, Monday, Monday,_ Nico mused. Chiron’s Academy only had one compulsory article of clothing the students had to wear during the school day and that was their shirts. Their choice was between an orange tee with _Camp Half-Blood_ printed across it, or a colour-coordinated shirt with their cabin number on it. Nico decided on one of the black Cabin 13 tops he had.

Tugging on another pair of black skinny jeans and his boots, Nico swathed himself in a thick dark jacket, flipping the hood up and starting for the door. He pocketed his iPod, headphones, the play and another book, because he’d get sick of Romeo and Juliet after going over their lines again.

As Nico touched the doorknob, his stomach gave a huge heave of hunger. He remembered Will’s note, and the fact he’d brought food. Food Nico hadn’t gotten around to eating last night. Crossing to the desk, Nico scooped up the plate of potato bake and the fork beside it, deciding to take it outside with him.

Mid-Autumn meant that the sun wasn’t up just yet, so the camp was bathed in pre-dawn grey light and colder than it would be later in the day. Nico headed for the same tree he’d spent the last few days sitting under reading the play. As he sat down he looked up, remembering how Will had been up there before. He wasn’t there now.

Opening his play, Nico started going through Juliet’s parts again. “Where is my Romeo?”

He sat there till sunrise.

* * *

 

“Jeez Nico, you already know your lines?”

Nico shrugged.

“Not all of them,” he said. Will looked unconvinced.

Their Monday English lesson was halfway over, and the two were back in their clearing in the woods. Nico had started calling it ‘Nico and Will’s spot,’ and when he’d accidentally said, “We’re going to our spot,” to Percy, he’d gotten a pervy thumbs ups and a sinister grin in return. Nico and Will’s spot was probably being watched by two people who were definitely not Nico and Will.

“So,” Nico said, distractedly flipping through his play, “do we need costumes for this?”

Will made an odd choking noise and when Nico looked up, he noticed his friend was holding his lips in a straight line.

“Yep,” Will replied, his hands all over his face, “but don’t worry, I’ve already sorted them out.”

Nico raised his eyebrows suspiciously.

“Sorted them out?” he asked. “What are they?”

Will just looked at him like he was waiting for a bomb to drop.

And then it did.

Nico’s cheeks exploded a dark red and he had to turn away and cover them up. The more he thought about it, the hotter his face got.

“Y-You’re kidding!” he almost shrieked.

“You _are_ playing a girl,” Will pointed out. “A girl whose time period had dudes running around in leggings and carrying swords.”

Will’s words just piled on a whole new hue to Nico’s ears and neck, because now all he saw was Will walking gracefully towards him wearing a pair of maroon tights. He would have swooned if he wasn’t currently trying not to be too mortified by the fact that he never thought about having to _dress_ like Juliet for their assessment.

“Don’t worry, Death Boy,” Will told him, coming over. “You’ll… look _really_ cute.” A hand slipped into Nico’s and he looked up to see Will smiling nervously down at him. He then swivelled his head around and started fumbling in his pocket, pulling out his own phone. Nico watched as Will opened it up and then turned the screen towards him.

“Piper sent a picture over,” he said. There was a pink tint on his cheeks as Nico selected the _Saved Photos_ folder and looked.

“At least it has sleeves,” Nico grumped, flicking the picture to the side to see Will’s costume. He bit his lip as his imagination projected the outfit in front of him onto the blond beside him. That was _hot._

“Wow,” he breathed, before his brain caught up with what he was saying. “You’re gonna look really good in that, Will.”

Will beamed and squeezed Nico’s fingers softly. Nico couldn’t help but smile himself. He was smiling so much around Will. Around Will, thinking about Will, talking about Will. Percy had tactfully fold him he had a ‘Will Face’ that morning – like a particular expression when he thought of or spoke about the Apollo kid. Percy had been punched for that.

“We’re going to be the best dressed couple in the whole class,” the blond declared. Nico stuck on the word couple. He _knew_ Will liked him. He knew it. Ever since he’d overheard the conversation with Lee Fletcher after the Apollo cabin’s bitter defeat in Capture the Flag. He just wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing – initiating it, that is. Taking the first step. Doing something other than second-guess every tiny thing that happened. Handholding was one thing. Full-on asking out his crush of three years was like facing the final boss in a video game – dreaded and nerve-wracking as all get out. You can’t graduate from extensive pining and limited interaction to dating without something dramatic happening in between.

 

 

 


	14. Koala Bomb

Wednesdays at Chiron’s Academy was always only a half-day, the morning dedicated to lessons, the afternoon to an elective activity. The last class was English, and Will and Nico had pretty much learned their scripts. Will had more to say, but he only needed to check his play a few times to make sure he was saying the right thing. Nico was dead most of the time, and he took the opportunity to nap as he lay on the log.

Will glanced over at his sleeping partner as he muttered lines under his breath, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. Nico had turned onto his side and cushioned his head with his hands. Will carefully moved over to him, keeping up his monologue of Romeo in a lulling tone. When he reached Nico he gently swept a lock of hair off the smaller boy’s cheek. Will kissed the tips of his fingers and touched them to Nico’s forehead. 

“The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark. Here’s to my love,” he whispered. His eyes went a little blurry as he stared at Nico, and then said quietly, in a daze, “What the hell does that even mean.”

The bell signalling the end of class rang through the woods, and Will knelt down beside the log. He shook Nico’s shoulder.

“Hey, Nico,” he coaxed, tapping his jaw. “C’mon sweetie, wake up. It’s activity time.”

Will was unconscious to the fact he’d just called the Hades camper ‘sweetie’, and was surprised when Nico cracked his eyes open and asked, “What did you just say?”

Will blinked.

“Uh, it’s activity time?” he offered, and Nico shook his head, still not getting up. He was staring at Will with a small frown.

“No, before that,” he said. Will cocked his head to the side.

“Wake up?”

“Further back.”

“Hey, Nico?”

“No, after that.”

“C’mon sweetie.”

Will stared without seeing as he realised what he’d said.

“Oh.”

Nico – who was obviously still in a post-waking up stupor or Will was sure he’d be flattened (He’d seen Percy after he’d called Nico ‘honey’, and he hoped he’d never have to treat that kind of injury again) – just smiled sleepily and closed his eyes again. “S’okay. But lemme sleep more now.”

“Uh, no,” Will said, bending down and rolling Nico over so the sun was on his face. “I wasn’t kidding when I said you need to get up.”

Nico groaned and tried to get out of the light. He twisted away from Will-

-and fell off the log.

“I knew you weren’t a morning person Death Boy,” Will laughed, “but this is ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous,” came the reply from where Nico had disappeared behind the log. “Let me sleep, Solace.”

Will climbed on the fallen tree himself, jumping down to stand beside Nico and look down at him.

“I’ll pick you up, di Angelo.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Nico glanced up, glaring at Will. Will glared right back and reached down to grab Nico’s hands. “Up.”

“No.”

Will pulled, and Nico lifted off the ground. He was a dead weight in Will’s grip, and the Apollo camper grunted as he hauled Nico to his feet. He let go for a moment, and Nico dropped right back to the earth.

“You’re kidding,” Will exclaimed, and Nico flashed him a triumphant look. A challenging scowl appeared on Will’s face and he leant down again. This time, when he got Nico standing, he didn’t let go, and instead hooked his arms under the other boy’s before lifting him into the air. Nico made a noise of surprise as Will slung the Hades’ campers arms around his neck and held onto his hips to keep him steady.

“I told you,” Will grinned, glancing down. He was carrying Nico like a koala, but felt like he was holding a live explosion. Nico sniffed, and hooked his ankles behind Will’s back so he didn’t fall.

“Whatever,” he grumbled. Will smirked as he held the smaller boy. Nico blushed and hid his face in the crook of Will’s neck.  “I hate you.”

“Nope,” Will chirped, angling his head away so his chin was brushing Nico’s shoulder, “you don’t.”

Walking them both out of the clearing, Will hummed softly. He didn’t want to think about the very-probably painful repercussions of his actions. All he wanted was for the smell of midnight and pomegranates that was Nico di Angelo to hang around a little longer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is exactly what this story has been leading up to :D


	15. The Final Romeo

The boys of Nico’s English class would have the whole Friday off for their oral presentations, so they would get through everyone. Personally, Nico didn’t like it.

When he exited the Hades cabin, Nico took a deep breath. After today, he wouldn’t have a proper excuse to hang out with Will, or disappear for hours on end into the woods with him and subtly romance him with a Shakespeare play. He was going to the city with the blond dork tomorrow – maybe that’ll change something.

Nico didn’t expect the change to come that day.

At eight-thirty, on the dot, Ms Dare’s class trudged into the forest. “For immersion,” Ms Dare insisted as he hoicked the tripod and camera higher on her shoulder. Nico and Will shared a look before bursting into silent giggles. The group came to a stand-still.

Nico’s heart sped up as he realised the class had stopped in the middle of his and Will’s practice clearing. The Apollo camper had a small, fond smile on his face, and wasted no time in heading towards the lowest hanging branch and hooking the strap holding their costumes to it, so they wouldn’t wrinkle over his arms. Nico followed him as the rest of the boys dispersed. Ms Dare took a seat on a stump right in the middle of the glade before setting up her filming equipment.

“Now, guys,” she started as she attached the camera to the tripod and set it on the ground. “You can take a seat anywhere around here – climb a tree for all I care – but make sure you pay attention to the ones performing, yeah? You’ve all worked hard on this, so don’t ruin it for everyone else. And keep quiet during performances, as I’m filming them.”

The agreements were swift and gleeful. Half the class ran to the nearest tree, scrambling up it. Percy and Jason, surprisingly, did not. Nico was about to ask if they were sick before Ms Dare said, “And our first pair has already volunteered. Percy and Jason, you’re up!” She began filming.

Somehow, Percy and Jason’s performance was exactly as Nico expected it to be. They’d gone with the most obnoxious scene in the whole play – Mercutio and Tybalt’s argument in the square, and their fight. They executed it the exact same metrosexual style they always interact. Nico swore that, if it wasn’t common knowledge they were one half of a power-couple with their girlfriends at Lupa, they’d be pegged as gayer than a basket of fruit for each other.

As Percy stabbed his sword at Jason – his real one, mind – they both froze. It took a moment for everyone to realise that this was their coup de grâce – the culmination of the tension their characters had. Dramatic and very Jason-and-Percy-esque. The class began clapping, and Leo, in his precarious perch hanging by his knees from a high branch, cat-called. Jason and Percy took their bows, grinning widely.

“Whoo!” Ms Dare called, cupping her hands around her mouth after turning off the camera. “A-grade worthy performance, you two.” She winked at them, which might be weird if she wasn’t twenty-four and a jokester. “I’d give you high marks for those costumes alone.”

Percy smirked and stretched his legs in their maroon tights.

“Hottie!” he sang.

Jason pushed him off the make-shift stage.

And so it continued, everyone going one after the other. Ms Dare seemed to be choosing pairs at random on who would go next. Leo and his partner, Frank Zhang, were hilarious, as an over-dramatic Juliet (Leo) and her comforting Nurse (Frank). Nico didn’t expect to enjoy the day as much as he did, and didn’t notice when the sun crept across the sky and began sinking down towards the horizon.

He did notice Will slide over to him and tap his shoulder. Turning around, Nico glanced up, a smile lifting his lips. Will leant down so his mouth was right beside Nico’s ear.

“We’re up next,” he whispered. “We have to go get changed.”

Stones dropped in Nico’s stomach and he swallowed, suddenly nervous and feeling like he’d eaten paper. He ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth before nodding and getting up. His legs felt jelly-ish. Will turned to look at him over his shoulder, an edgy grin on his face.

“I added something to my part. Just… don’t freak out okay?”

As if Nico’s gut could get any more apprehensively tensed.  

Will grabbed their costumes off the branch, Nico stared straight ahead, psyching himself up. He could do this. Easily. He knew his lines, and he had his eyes closed for most of the time. It was just a performance. Just a performance. No one was going to judge him differently.

Nico look the covered dress Will handed him. Leo had worn a dress – a super frilly thing that didn’t belong in Shakespearean times – and no one had reacted any differently to him. _But Leo’s the class clown,_ Nico reminded himself. _That’s normal. He’s predictably unpredictable. I’m just…_

Will touched his shoulder, and Nico couldn’t not look up into his eyes.

“It’ll be okay,” the Apollo camper murmured.

 _Easy for you to say,_ Nico thought, staring at the dark blue tights in Will’s hands and mentally projecting them onto his play partner. _Unfairly attractive little –_

“Get dressed, Neeks!” Will urged, steering Nico to behind a tree. “We’re on soon.”

Nico sighed and shimmied out of his shirt, leaving it in a crumpled heap on the floor at his feet. Stubbornly leaving his pants on though, the Hades camper stepped into his fitting garment, hoisting it up to his chest before bending his arms to zip up the back. Nico looked down at himself.

It wasn’t quite the lilly-white colour he’d been expecting from the photo. It was actually pale blue, like early morning grey mixed with the sky, with pleats at the front and back. The shoulders were tight-knit mesh and puffy, but not obnoxiously so, so he at least didn’t look like a cross-dressed nightmare Cinderella. The waist was narrow, making him realise just exactly how thin he was – he would not be telling Will – and there were intricate gold lace patterns weaving in waves from the hips down. Cloudy white trim hedged the base and when he walked, Nico could feel the softness of it brushing his ankles. Cross-stitching on the bodice in black leather and a Peter Pan collar made of slightly darker blue than the dress complied with the similar design on the sleeves. Half the back of Nico’s hand was covered by a triangle of darker fabric.

It wasn’t exactly Shakespearean fashion. It wasn’t exactly Disney either. But it was exactly right. If he ever had to wear a dress, this was what Nico di Angelo would choose.

He hoped this was a one-time thing, though.

Pulling off his combat boots, Nico stuffed his socks inside them before slipping into midnight-blue flats. Oh man. Deep inside – _no one will ever find out –_ Nico felt pretty. The last part was the head piece: a simple band of blue and black with a short veil that sat over his bangs, but not quite his eyes. Picking up the posse of fake black flowers, Nico gathered his previous clothes in a clump and ducked out from behind the tree.

**…---…**

Will stayed slightly hidden from the clearings occupants, watching without seeing the performing group. He was thinking about Nico.

He’d finished changing, the pair of dark blue tights and boots so light he kept forgetting he was wearing pants. The grey tunic was a different story though – that thing was so heavy thanks to the belt strapped to it he felt the ground might open up under him. Around his head, tied just under his fringe, was a black headband. A thin rapier borrowed from the weapons shed sat in a loop at his waist, and the vial filled with water that was his ‘poison’ was hanging there as well. He felt like a bloody pirate. As he waited for Nico to come out, Will played with the untied strings hanging from the cuffs of his shirt.

The image of lily-white dresses, black flowers and crowns swam into his thoughts again. The Apollo camper shook his head. _Come on, dude. Knock it off._

The performing pair finished, and everyone clapped. Will’s stomach clenched – they were up next. He and Nico were the last group to go. Ms Dare swivelled around on her stump. She and Will locked eyes.

“Our final pair is Will Solace and Nico di Angelo!” she grinned beginning the filming before motioning for Will to come out from behind the tree and take his place. Breathing deeply he complied, stepping out and trying to walk like he wasn’t going to trip over his own feet. From the gathering of Leo, Percy, Jason, Will’s friend Cecil and Frank Zhang, there was a wolf whistle. He shot them a look as he stood in the same place he’d practiced yesterday, facing away from the log Nico would lie on.

“Will?” Ms Dare inquired. “Where’s Nico?”

“Just getting changed-” Will started, before there was a movement at the edge of the clearing nearest him and someone who belonged in the Aphrodite cabin stepped out.

Will’s jaw hit the ground. Mildly, he thought they should have done a run-through _with_ the costumes, so he didn’t gape like a love-sick moron at their assessment. But that was past and this was now, and Nico di Angelo was wearing a gown that seemed to have been made for him.

It wasn’t Will’s fantasy white-dove one – it was even better. He looked like he was wearing a slim wedding dress strategically dipped in blue dye. The veil over his brow and the way everything swished when he walked made Will’s heart do the ba-dump ba-dump thing so hard someone in the Big House was probably using it as an erratic metronome.

Nico met his eye for the briefest second, and his face seemed to be deciding on whether to look flustered or wicked.

“Dang dude,” Leo called out from his branch. He was still in his frilly pink monstrosity. “If I wasn’t straight and you weren’t taken, I’d tap that.”

Nico growled as he made his way towards the log, his steps edgy. He shot a poisonous look at Leo, who shrugged. Will was too busy staring to even hear. His Juliet was beautiful. Utterly, mind-blowingly gorgeous. He was honest-to-gods surprised his legs were still holding him up.

“Whenever you’re ready, boys,” Ms Dare said, checking the camera, and Will snapped out of it enough to turn away. She was watching Nico eagerly, and Will tried not to blush as he thought of the cute little hop the Hades camper did to get onto the log. In that dress, too…

“Solace,” Nico hissed from behind him. “Go.”

Will barely nodded, focusing on his lines in his head. _It’s just another practice with Nico. We’re alone. Just act like you always do, Will. And… go!_

Will moved forward fluidly, pulling out his sword. He walked around for a bit, searching for something, before he finally allowed himself to turn towards Nico lying on the log.

_Breathe, Will._

Dropping his rapier, Will rushed towards the other boy.

“Ah, dear Juliet, why art thou yet so fair?” he cried, the picture if despair and longing. “Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous, and that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour?”

Will moved himself so the audience could still see Nico as he leaned over the top of the log to stare down at the Hades camper. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind Nico’s ear. The other boy didn’t move.

“For fear of that, I will stay with thee, and never from this place of dim night depart again,” Will said decisively, glancing down obviously at the vial at his hip. He felt the audiences eyes follow. Ms Dare wrote something down in her grade book.

“Here,” Will proclaimed, his voice turning determined, “here I will remain with worms that are thy chamber maids. Oh, here will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh.”

Will put his hands on either side of Nico’s neck, the cold skin making them tingle.

“Eyes,” he said softly, “look your last. Arms, take your last embrace.

“And, lips, Oh you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death.”

The moment Will had been too scared to take before appeared again. He remembered saying the exact same thing not last week, kneeling over Nico as he lay on the ground.

Never taking his eyes off Nico, Will moved to take the vial of water – sorry, _poison –_ from his belt. He leant in closer.

“Righteous kiss,” he murmured again, this time not loud enough for anyone but the black haired boy to hear. Nico’s eyes opened the smallest bit, and he watched as Will gently, slowly, in front of everyone, pressed his lips to Nico’s.

 

 


	16. Check Yes, Juliet

Having tattooed the lines of Juliet into his brain so they would probably be imprinted there forever, it would take a lot to wipe Nico’s thoughts completely clear.

Thank you Will Solace, for being that one thing that could possible blow his mind beyond what could be recovered from, and therefore making him forget everything he was supposed to be doing.

It was possibly the most cliché first kiss one could have. They were playing the young lovers of the most romantic play in history, dressed the part, and were both hiding secret crushes for the other. Any more cheese and the moment would be a margarita pizza. This, Nico didn’t dwell on.

The Hades camper had always known Will was a warm person. He didn’t realise that warmth extended to the way he kissed. It was like he’d just gotten into a spa bath – his whole body tingled and seemed to heat up at once. Before he could stop his arms, and as if he wanted to, Nico lifted them from where they were resting on his chest and carded his hand through Will’s blond locks, finally feeling them and finding that they were exactly as soft as they looked.

Will made a noise of surprise and opened his eyes. He and Nico stared at each other for a moment, before a grin broke their kiss and Will laughed. He laughed in utter joy, and suddenly everyone else in the clearing – who were committing intense voyeurism and didn’t seem to care – faded out of Nico’s head, along with almost everything else. Will’s poison vial tinkled as it hit the ground and he didn’t waste time in pretending not to know what to do with his free hand, cupping Nico’s cheek and brushing the hair out of his eyes. Nico opened his mouth to say something.

A loud cat-call made the two freeze.

Nico’s eyes darted to the side to see Leo Valdez, an unbelievably wide grin on his face and gleeful twinkle to his expression. Beside him up the tree, Percy was forking over five bucks to Jason but not looking all that bothered about it as he watched Nico and Will’s English performance crash and burn-

 _The English performance._ Nico wanted to die right there. He wished he was Juliet and had actually died. _Oh my god, we messed up. What do we do? What do_ I _do!?_

He couldn’t look at Ms Dare even if he wanted to. Will was in the way. In fact, Will seemed to suddenly be everywhere in the way – Nico couldn’t even see Percy anymore. Then his chin made contact with a collar bone and a triumphant cry right beside his ear made him jump.

“Oh my love, you have awakened!”

If his brain wasn’t working before, it definitely wasn’t now. Nico wasn’t even sure what was going on anymore. All he could do was stare dumbly at the shoulder he was pressed to.

“Death is far kinder than one can presume, as he has… um… given over his passion to keep you for himself and returned the stars to your eyes.”

“What?” Nico said, and the audience in the clearing giggled. Will bent in closer.

“Play along,” he whispered. Then, pulling back, he said louder, “If it is confusion of me my love has, I will be brief, for there is certainly a guard coming to disrupt this place of rotted rest.”

Biting his tongue so he wouldn’t laugh or ask Will if he even knew what he was saying, Nico made a show of blinking dopily. He could vaguely understand what was going on now. Vaguely.

“Romeo?” he asked. Will ended their embrace, taking a step back, his hands still on Nico’s shoulders.

“Yes my lady,” Will said. Nico breathed in, thinking quickly of something to say. He needed Juliet-Nico now more than ever.

“O, Romeo, I wondered once where you may be,” he said, grimacing slightly as whatever train of thought he’d been following took off without him. Ah shit. “Um…”

“Well wonder no more of me than the moon might of the sky, my love,” Will announced, “for I am with thee now. The kiss…” he trailed off for a moment “…which I gave your lips as a sealing act in my, er, despair hath brought you back from the icy affection of death.”

“Do you even know what you’re saying?” Nico hissed to his partner. Will have a noncommittal shrug.

“No idea,” he whispered back. Nico rolled his eyes, and caught sight of the discarded vial on the grass. He pretended to jerk back in surprise.

“What’s here?” He pointed to the pseudo-poison. “A cup at my true love’s side.” Getting to his feet in the unsteady manor that he assumed someone who was recently dead would have, Nico plopped down beside the flask and opened it, taking a sniff. He recoiled instantly.

“Poison?” he yelped. He glanced up at Will, an expression of fear on his face. “With what was my Romeo doing in company of the apothecary’s work?”

Will struggled not to giggle as he knelt down beside Nico. Posiedon’s underpants this was _hard._

“I thought thee dead,” he said, biting his lip in a way that looked like despair, but Nico knew he was trying to find something else to say. “I hasted to join you, to… er… keep the dim light of the Underworld from touching your skin.”

Nico snorted loudly, unable to keep it in. He ducked his head and managed to turn it into a choking sob. Will touched his back soothingly.

“But neither of us have entered the realm of the spirits, dear Juliet,” he said. “The world… The world believes me gone beyond the borders, and you beyond mortal eyes.”

“We can away,” Nico finished, fighting to keep the laughter out of his voice. Will looked like he was about to cry from holding back his giggles.

“Ay,” he agreed. “We can away.”

This seemed like as good a spot as any to finish, so by silent agreement they both went still.

It wasn’t like the end of Percy and Jason’s performance, where it took a moment for everyone to realise they were finished. Storming applause erupted the moment Will and Nico stopped, making several flocks of birds in the branches above take flight from the noise. There was whistling and banging on the trunks of trees, but loudest of all was Ms Dare’s raucous cackling. Tears were streaming down her face as he held her stomach and fell off the stump she was sitting on. Percy was in no better condition, crying out that his abs had become twelve packs from laughing so hard.

“My face hurts from watching them,” Will muttered to Nico, whose own cheeks were aching from trying to restrain a grin. He nodded.

It took a long time for the clearing of boys to calm down, and by then Ms Dare had reclaimed her seat. She still snorted occasionally, which set off a chain reaction of giggling around the class. She’d even forgotten to turn the camera off, which was occasionally flashing a red light that indicated it was still filming.

“I want a copy of that, Ms Dare,” Jason called out, pointing to the camera. “Piper’ll never believe me otherwise.”

Nico buried his face in his hands as Ms Dare reached over to turn off the equipment. She was still snickering.

“Oh my gods,” she grinned, fanning her face as she turned to Will and Nico. “Never, _ever,_ have I seen something to utterly adorably hilarious.”

Will shuffled his feet in embarrassment. Nico hid his face in his blue sleeve.

“I’m going out on a limb here that the both of your forgot your lines,” she continued, smirking now. Will nodded, not making eye contact. “Both of your forgot your lines after Romeo _smooched_ Juliet?”

Nico’s cheeks were now hurting, not from smiling, but from the heat pulsing from them.

Ms Dare just giggled again.

“That was the best improvisation of Shakespeare I’ve ever seen,” she declared. “Take an A-plus, both of you, for keeping it in character, sticking to the script and then completely decimating it in a stampede of rainbows.”

Will was mouthing _rainbows_ with a confused look on his face, but Nico just clamped his tongue between his teeth so he didn’t run away or laugh out loud.

“Class dismissed,” Ms Dare said. “You’re all free to go. I have twenty dollars to collect from a certain gym teacher.” She winked at Will. “Coach Hedge seemed to think you’d never make a move.”

“Are you kidding me?” Will yelped. Nico remembered the money changing hands between Percy and Jason.

“Who _wasn’t_ betting on us?” he asked the clearing. Everyone exchanged shifty looks and only Frank Zhang raised his hand. Nico rolled his eyes, the blush creeping down his neck now. “Lovely.”

“Speaking of which,” Will said, touching his hand to Nico’s, “can we talk?”

His voice was lower than before and Nico nodded. The rest of the class was filing out of the glade, costumes in hand, or in Leo’s case, original clothes, since he hadn’t changed out of his pink dress yet. Nico gathered his own outfit from the floor with Will, before they started following the groups out at a distance. Will looked down at the Hades camper, who looked up at the same time. _Is this it? This is it, isn’t it. Oh my gods. Nico, keep it cool._

“I’m sorry,” Will said quietly. “I messed up our performance and k- um, did _that_ without asking.”

Nico stared at him for a moment before punching his arm.

“I swear to all the gods, Solace,” he grumbled, “you’re the thickest Romeo I’ve ever met.”

“It’s just, Piper said you liked me,” Will continued, apparently not having heard anything Nico had said. “And I’ve had a huge, intense, festering crush on you for-” he counted on his fingers “-three years now.”

Nico, for once, was silent. What Will was saying was sounding very familiar.

“And last time we did that scene I nearly did kiss you and this time I just had to- Nico?”

Dropping his bundle of clothes on the ground and not bothering that they were going to be covered in dirt, Nico grabbed the sides of Will’s head and pulled him down slightly, connecting their lips again.

“Shut up,” he mumbled. “I’m not mad, idiot. I… kind of knew you liked me, anyway.”

Will’s eyes closed and he ditched his uniform too, letting it fall from his arms as he wrapped them around Nico’s waist.

“Wait,” he said suddenly. “You knew?”

Nico smirked and petted Will’s wavy hair. He was feeling ten times more confident than when he’d asked Will to hold his hand.

“You need to be more careful where you vent your crushes,” Nico told him. Will groaned and covered his face. They gathered their dropped belongings and started back out of the clearing, Will’s slightly red cheeks and Nico’s tiny smile the only evidence that something might have happened between them while they were stopped.

“Hey, Will?”

Will glanced at Nico, who was looking contemplative.

“Does this mean tomorrow’s leave trip is technically a date?”

Will tapped his chin before dropping his hand to his side and catching Nico’s in his grip, entwining their fingers.

“If you like, my lady,” he replied.


	17. For Never was there a Story of Less Woe

It was the first of many dates between the two, and true to the words the blond boy had promised at the beginning, Nico had fun in his presence.

It had been bucketing down rain, though Will had still taken Nico to so many places that the Hades camper had lost track, but he knew that there had been a moment in each where he was glad he finally had Will. At a shop called Levi’s, Will had insisted Nico get a pair of light blue jeans, and it had sounded like the worst idea known to mankind until he’d tried them on. One street later and there had been an ice cream shop, which, despite the cold rain, Will dragged Nico into.

“Salted caramel,” Will said to the lady behind the counter. He took a backwards look at Nico and before the black haired boy could open his mouth, Will was back at the ice cream display and saying, “And a cookies and cream in a cone for him.”

Behind his scowl, Nico was impressed. He still made sure he bumped Will enough to make him smear the salted caramel on his face, though.

They passed other couples under umbrellas from both Chiron’s and Lupa’s. Percy and Annabeth had been across the road from them at one point, and Annabeth had had to hold Percy back from getting pancaked on the pavement when he attempted to run over to them. He got kind of wet from the brief stint outside the umbrella’s protection. They waved, and carried on.

Piper and Jason had been entering the same café when Will and Nico had been leaving it.

“Picture time,” Piper sang, and she encompassed the two in a hug, holding her phone in front of them. Will, cheeky shit, ducked in at just the right moment so that the photo captured him pecking Nico’s cheek, and Piper’s grinning face in the background. Piper wasted no time uploading it to Instagram, tagging the both of them.

“Can you send that to me, Pipes?” Will asked.

“Certainly,” Piper said, winking at Nico, who looked flustered and grumpy, but was very obviously happy.

At one point Will had disappeared into a signless shop with a warning to Nico that he better stay outside or else. The Hades camper, curiosity his bane, tiptoed up to the window, hidden being his umbrella, and peered inside to see Will at the counter, paying for something before shoving whatever it was in his bag and turning to leave. Nico quickly backtracked and stood in the same spot as before. When Will came out, he didn’t mention what he’d bought, and Nico didn’t bring it up.

It was nearing sundown, the grey sky turning darker grey and the rain coming down harder, when Will linked his hand with Nico’s and sighed contentedly.

“Three years,” he said. “Three years admiring you from a safe distance, and here I am, holding your hand and walking through the city. You know the best thing, though?”

Nico tried not to look like he was blushing.

“I can kiss you whenever I want and there’s nothing anyone can do about it,” Will declared.

He should have expected it, really, especially after an announcement like that. Yet Nico was still surprised when Will ducked his head and pressed his lips to Nico’s. It was exactly the same as when Will had kissed him yesterday in their assessment – the feeling of a boiling spa bath completely overriding his nerves with warmth.

“Nico di Angelo,” Will said when he pulled away, “would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“I already am, idiot,” Nico replied, tangling his fingers in Will’s hair. The Apollo camper smiled.

“Yeah, but I want to hear you say it.”

Nico rolled his eyes, but his mouth quirked in a small grin.

“Yes Will Solace, I will be your boyfriend.”

Will leaned in for another kiss, when suddenly the alarm on his wrist-watch started beeping. They both stared at it in horror, before both looking behind them at the wet street.

“I’ll also race you to the bus, because we’re late,” Nico said, and took off at a sprint, taking the umbrella with him and Will yelling about an unfair start behind him.

 

When Nico returned to his cabin that night, utterly exhausted from a day out with Will and then Capture the Flag, he almost crushed the package on his bed. Halfway through the air in a flop, Nico yelped, and stuck his arms out to stop himself hitting the wrapped object in the middle of his sheets. He stayed like that for a moment, before rolling to the side, staring at the brown-paper thing that had made him deviate from the plan of immediate bed time.

Sitting up, Nico gingerly picked the package off his duvet cover and placed it on his lap, turning on the lamp beside his bed to look properly. Attached to the brown paper with sticky tape was a note. Nico started reading it.

_Death Boy,_

_I had the best time I can remember having with you today_. _I have a new respect for Shakespeare, and his wordi-ness had inspired me to write a haiku. Here is it:_

 _Whether Juliet,_  
Or in your pyjamas, dear,   
You’re cute as Hades

Nico covered his mouth to stifle his snort of laughter. He was dating an utter nerd.

_Remember today how I went into that shop and told you to stay outside?_

Nico frowned and nodded as he read.

_Well, I was getting something special. Leo and Annabeth helped me make it when we got back (Percy snuck her in). I thought it might be reminiscent of how we messed up a tragic romance play by making it completely opposite of how it’s supposed to be. I hope you like it._

_Love,  
Will.  _

_(P.S. Annabeth told me that Piper told her to tell you that her picture of us has been liked by every person at Chiron’s and Lupa’s. I, personally, am not surprised, because you’re in it.)_

Will, it was decided, was the kind of boyfriend who absolutely spoiled his partner.

Putting the note to the side, Nico turned to the package. He unwrapped it carefully, and saw the back of a canvas. Flipping it around, Nico stared at what was on it. His hands went to his mouth, and after a full five minutes of just reading and rereading it, he picked it up with the same care he would show with a china plate. Gently, Nico set the small canvas down on his bedside table and got into his bed, still looking at it. He started smiling.

In the top right corner was a small silver sticker, and in Will’s spidery handwriting, it said, _You shine even on a rainy day, angel._

The tune to the same song that was a reminder of Bianca’s death for years started playing in Nico’s head as he closed his eyes, and finally it wasn’t crippling sadness that got him, but the brilliant smile of a three-year long crush.

He rolled over, the block words painted on the canvas imprinted in black in his vision as he closed his eyes. They’d be the mantra of their relationship, and years later, would hang over the fireplace of their first house, reminding every visitor of the time two boys, one sunny and sweet, the other grumpy and cynical, had come together through a mutual misunderstanding of Shakespeare and one impulsive kiss.

 _For Never Was There A Story Of Less Woe,_  
Than That Of Will Solace  
And His di Angelo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.   
> I’m going to miss this story : ) Thank you everyone who joined me in this Solangelo trash pile of clueless fluff and Shakespeare. I hope you liked it, I know I did.   
> I declare Romeo and Juliet – Starring Will Solace and Nico di Angelo OFFICIALLY OVER.   
> See you all again sometime :D  
> Jasmine Out! (Until I started another Solangelo story and we’re all stuck in the same boat again)


End file.
